This European project uses an innovative tool to analyse and address a crucial skills issue in an increasingly important sector. + THE PROJECT MEETS A REAL NEED. The S2A (Strategy to Action) Project is focussed on the sport and active leisure sector and in particular on the skill needs of sports administrators – the people, in paid and voluntary roles in middle management in national and European sport organisations across the EU, who are crucial in fulfilling the sector’s potential as a social, health and economic driver in Europe. Expectations of national Governments are rising. Sport is increasingly seen as a powerful tool to combat some of the major challenges facing society yet it is still under-developed. It needs to change from a sector that has been fragmented and with systems that vary from country to country depending on the history and culture of those countries. At the heart of this change lie the sport federations, which provide the rules and structure for the governance and development of their sports, the thousands of non-profit sports clubs and the grassroots sport movement. Within these sport organisations, the administrators in middle management roles are under particular pressure. They have the responsibility to translate the overall strategy of the organisation into action, to turn the ambitions of the sport into real programmes that will attract more participants and bring success., to apply vital policies for good governance and to ensure the integrity of sport are in their hands to deliver. But, what skills do they need? Do they have access to appropriate training for these new challenges? The project will tackle these key issues. + THE PROJECT LINKS WITH EU POLICIES AND PRIORITIES The project aims to enable the sector to contribute effectively to key priorities in EU policy that are aimed at creating jobs, improving health, promoting social inclusion, re-generating the economy and improving sport itself. In addition, the project uses an approach totally in line with EU education reform enabling the sector to create and deliver training and qualifications that meet an agreed employment and skills need and to link to the EQF and ECVET by delivering a new learning outcome based approach. + THE PROJECT USES AN INNOVATIVE AND PROVEN METHODOLOGY The innovative 7 Step Model, developed by EOSE in a previous EU funded project, will be used to analyse the role and functions performed by sports administrators (paid and unpaid) in sports organisations across Europe and to define the knowledge, skills and competencies and the training needed for them to be effective in those roles. + THE PROJECT WILL CREATE A FLEXIBLE TRAINING “CURRICULUM” FOR SPORTS ADMINISTRATORS Using the Model, a framework of training will be created based on the real skill needs of Sports Administrators to support their on-going training and development. No such analysis has been attempted before at a European level for sports administrators. The outcome will be an agreed definition of the role and competences of the administrators which will act as a specification for the modular training to be developed and piloted as an exemplar during the project. + THE PROJECT WILL PRODUCE REAL IMPACT AND LEGACY This framework has huge potential to encourage and support learning and employment mobility for the administrators and to put transparency into qualifications developed in different countries and sports but to the same template (the common agreed standards in the framework) and linked to EQF and ECVET. It is aimed at an occupation at the centre of the future growth and development of sport and can therefore have real impact on the real world of sport… potentially impacting a growing sector (over 800,000 full time employees and 35 million volunteers in the EU) and in fine the life of the EU citizens. + THE PROJECT IS BUILT ON A STRONG PARTNERSHIP The Project Partnership is strong, involving 12 partners from 10 countries: 8 national organisations and 4 pan-European Associations (EFCS, EOSE, ISCA and Tennis Europe). Each partner has strong national links with, and experience of, the sport sector. They include the members from EOSE, who are trained and experienced in the 7 Step Model methodology that will be used in the project. The strength of the consultation to be carried out by the Partners will be key to success. + THE PROJECT IS BASED ON SOUND MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL Finally, the S2A Project is led by EOSE, an experienced project management organisation (Lifelong Learning Programme at European and National level (through its members) and on direct commission from the DGEAC, Sport Unit) and a respected adviser to the European Commission Expert Groups on sport. The application is supported by 3 key documents – a detailed Gantt chart, a Quality Management Plan and a Valorisation strategy. Only with this strong base can success be guaranteed.
Sport is becoming increasingly recognised as a sector having a potential to positively impact on the realities and challenges faced by our society and the expectations from national governments are growing. In order to meet its huge potential and bring positive change in society (health, social inclusion, employability), the sport sector needs a workforce of people involved in sport organisations (e.g. sport federations, clubs) with the right skills and competences, supported by a fit-for-purpose programme of education, training and professional development. The S2A Sport project took place during 30 months and focussed on the skills needed by sport administrators working in paid and volunteer roles in the delivery of sport. Based on the cultural and terminological differences, a common definition of sport administration was agreed by the partnership: “Sport administration embraces the processes and/or activities of running an organisation operating within the sport sector at all levels; it includes a variety of tasks across a wide range of functions in accordance with the purpose and direction of the organisation. More specifically, Sport Administration functions are implemented by all those individuals, both paid and unpaid (volunteers) who work to ensure the effective running of a sports organisation.” These persons acting is the area of sport administration have a key role in the processes and activities of running a sport organisation and so in the development of the whole sport sector at local, regional, national, European and international levels. Main activities and responsibilities of these individuals are different depending of the country and type of organisation, and the main reason of this project can be explained by the fact that there was a recognised gap between the competences of sport administrators and those expected and required to fulfil their mission and respond to the need from the sector. What are the main tasks and activities of sport administrators on a daily basis? What are the competencies and skills that they need to perform efficiently in their position? Is there a fit-for-purpose education and training offer responding to the expectations from the sector? These were the main questions that the S2A Sport project, bringing a partnership composed of 8 national partners and 4 European networks, have been trying to bring a response. The work program implemented an innovative methodology developed by EOSE in response to the main education and employment challenges in the sector and aligns with the main EU policies and tools in the fields of sport and vocational education and training. This methodology, known as the « 7 Step Model » (http://eose.org/approach/7-step-model/), provided the opportunity to implement seven specific working steps and various consultation activities (internal/external) to conduct an analysis of the characteristics of the labour market in sport administration, to define main activities and tasks carried out by these persons within sport organisations (e.g. responsibilities, level of performance, career pathways), to develop detailed occupational standards to describe skills and knowledge required for competent performance at work in sport administration, and to provide information and advice to produce fit-for-purpose courses that meet the needs of the labour market. A pilot training programme week was organised during the final part of the project to test and assess some of the learning outcomes and approaches proposed by the project together with a sample of 40 sport administrators coming from different countries and cultures. This testing gave the possibility to collate feedbacks from participants and enhance the proposed content of the project’s outputs and ensure a response to their expectations and needs. Several transnational projects focussed on the position of coaches or players but the S2A Sport project is the first one to centre the attention on those individuals having central positions in the running of sport organisations across Europe. This initiative has been perceived positively in a sector that is recognised to be dynamic and growing, and as mentioned earlier having a potential to positively impact on the economy, health and social inclusion dimension of a country.