The future of sports turf higher education needs your opinion
There is a proposed new Level 5 Sports Turf Technical Manager Apprenticeship on the horizon with the option of including a Sports Turf Foundation Degree. What are your thoughts on this?
In October 2023, a new Level 3 Advanced Sports Turf Technician
Apprenticeship was made available (for details please see Institute
for Apprenticeship and Technical Education (IFATE) website). This
new progression route builds on the Level 2 Sports Turf Operatives
or Level 2 Greenkeeping and/or supports those seeking to develop
their supervisory skills, knowledge and behaviours in sports
turf.
Based on the role and duties of a sports turf manager, IFATE have
now recognised that a continued progression route to a higher level
5 apprenticeship qualification in sports turf may be needed.
To ascertain the taught knowledge, skills and behaviours for a level 5 sports turf manager, a new survey is now available to canvas industry opinion. If you have a vested interest in sports turf, sports turf operatives (groundstaff/groundskeepers) and general management of sports turf (e.g. any sport that uses a predominantly natural grass surface), then please:
Further to this, the survey is seeking opinion for utilising an
existing level 5 university sports turf qualification as an
educational programme towards achieving a level 5 Sports Turf
Technical Manager apprenticeship. Specifically, utilising a
'Foundation Degree in Sports Turf Management'.
Why a Foundation Degree? The newly developed
recommended 'Duties' of a level 5 Sports Turf Technical Manager
indicated a role that is based on science, technology, engineering
and maths (STEM). The Foundation Degree in Sports Turf is a
longstanding STEM-based higher education sports turf qualification.
The existence of the FD is potentially readymade to meet this need.
Over 200 sports turf professionals have completed the FD since 2013
and just over 50 have progressed further and graduated with a
Bachelor of Science with honours (BSc. Hons). It appears to be a
successful qualification for technical sports turf professionals,
however there may be barriers preventing more individuals from
achieving this qualification, namely university tuition fees.
Why Apprenticeships? Completion of a formal
apprenticeship is a recognised qualification that confirms that an
individual has completed at least a year of training and education
and has sat an independently assessed and regulated examination,
known as an End-Point Assessment. Arguably, the UK Government
values Apprenticeships and generates funding to incentivise and
meet the costs of this training for employers.
If the turf industry is of the opinion that the Foundation Degree
in Sports Turf Management has a valuable part of Level 5
Apprenticeship for Sports Turf, then there is a good case to
include this qualification.
How much will it cost? In summary, a Level 5
apprentice's employer could access about a 95-100% reduction in the
fees. An apprentice would have no fee. An employer would need to
facilitate an average of six hours a week for an apprentice's
off-the-job training.
Please complete the survey if you would like to contribute on the future of sports turf education and training for higher level apprenticeships: