Welcome to our workforce handbook. This document has been developed to support you as a member of our workforce. Over the next few pages, you will find all the information you need to know in relation to who we are, our contact details, workforce roles and responsibilities, workforce code of conduct, quality assurance and workforce fees.
Formed in 2002, our mission is to develop people and organisations through bespoke consultancy, education and training solutions.
Our vision is:
Transform sport and physical activity through empowering and inspiring people. Achieved through:
- Our delivery of high-quality products and services
- The development of innovative solutions that drive change and maximise the impact
- Providing accessible learning and development opportunities
Our values are:
Passion - Inspired by our mission, we are driven to make a difference
Integrity - Commit and hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards of ethics
Excellence - Strive for high quality by challenging, reflecting, learning and improving
Togetherness - Use the power of collective working to share, empower, educate and innovate
Our social value is shown in that we have not only delivered consultancy projects, but we have delivered award-winning programmes for the benefit of people choosing sport as a way to improve their quality of life through coaching or volunteering. Our awards include:
- Coaching intervention of the Year 2008
- Podium Award 2012 for Best Volunteer Programme (Personal Best)
- 6th in the National Lottery Awards (Sports Division) 2012
- Coach Developer of the Year 2016 (Kath Percival nee Robinson)
The company has evolved considerably since its evolution, increasing the range of products and services on offer with new business areas emerging thanks to the considerable knowledge and experience within the senior team. The company is underpinned by a strong graduate training and development approach. We have a range of products and services which have been developed since the inception of the company.
Full details of these products and services and our client base with case studies are available here
We are open Monday through Thursday from 9 am to 5 pm. On Fridays, we open at 8.30 am and close at 4.30 pm.
Our postal address is Sport Structures, Suite 8, The Cloisters, 12 George Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 1NP.
Our email address for workforce enquiries is education@sportstructures.com and we can be contacted at +44 (0) 121 455 8270
As a recognised body with a range of Awarding bodies and a recognised training provider for apprenticeships, we have extensive policies and procedures that are being improved on a rolling basis. These can be found on our public-facing policy pages in our About Us section
We would expect our Associate workforce to be familiar with the relevant policies and codes of conduct that relate to their delivery field.
We are very active on social media platforms including “X”, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. We encourage our workforce to share their experience of delivering our programmes through social media. The “address” for all social media is @sportstructures.
We seek to update our workforce database regularly. If your details have changed, please contact us so we can update our records accordingly. We are also committed to developing a better relationship with our workforce and therefore you will receive our workforce newsletter quarterly. We will communicate with you about programmes, opportunities and our other products and services. We will only use your personal information for work purposes and to pay you your fees. Your details will not be passed onto a third party without your explicit consent, and you can manage your preferences at any time.
Our full privacy policy is available here
Outside of the salaried staff, the associate Workforce consists of the following:
- Tutors
- Assessors
- Verifiers/Quality assurers
| Role | Role Overview |
|---|---|
| Tutor | Provides learners with a programme of learning which will enable them to meet the learning outcomes of a particular programme. |
| Assessor | Responsible for overseeing the internal and independent assessments. Conducts assessment of learners for specific programmes. In some cases, this can be the programme tutor. On occasions, independent assessors are involved in assessing a learner. Independent assessors have no involvement in the delivery of the programme. |
| Verifier/Quality Assurer | Quality assures the overall performance as a training provider, such as the tutor and assessor delivery, administration, and learner experience. Verifiers are responsible for verifying and proposing Improvements in the quality of delivery across programmes, ensuring high-quality teaching, learning and assessment for all learners. |
As we identified earlier in the document, we hold our values in high regard. As such we feel it is essential, we have a formal agreement with all our workforce whether contracted as PAYE or Associates through self-employed status. Therefore, we expect every employee or worker to sign the appropriate contract of employment. The Associate agreement is found on the workforce closed website. This must be signed before you enter into any contracted work. Within this agreement all of the workforces agree to abide by our policies and procedures. Although you will have a synopsis of some of those all of them are stored on the workforce closed website and it is the responsibility of every member of the workforce to read and become aware of these policies and procedures.
We have a standard job description for all tutors, assessors, and quality assurers. This is available on the tutor closed website.
Principles
To identify a method to give incentives to our Associates who identify new course opportunities and to reward loyalty and high-quality delivery.
Incentive Programme
Course identification incentive
If an Associate identifies a new course opportunity they should firstly be appointed to tutor, assess or quality assure this (given they are suitably qualified) and given a cash payment of £50 if the course meets our standards in relation to learner requirements.
Associate CPD incentive programme
To reward Associates for delivery for every hour they deliver they receive a SSCPD point. These points are valued at £1 per point. These can be “cashed” in against courses we deliver but no more than 50% of the market value of the course they wish to undertake. The points will be calculated on a two-year rolling basis.
Conclusions
The above incentives give Associates an opportunity to grow their personal delivery under our recognised centre status. Furthermore, it gives a reward to further their CPD in return for delivery.
In working for Sport Structures, we have identified the following responsibilities for the associate workforce:
- To deliver inline with our cultural code
- To prepare for and deliver our programmes as per our guidance/learning programmes and resources supplied
- To observe and assess learners as per the programme requirements ensuring assessments are valid, fair, ethical and reliable
- To ensure delivery of the programmes create a positive and welcoming learning environment that is learner centred, structured and progressive
- To use suitable delivery methods e.g., virtual classrooms in the SS LMS
- To adapt sessions to cater for different ranges of ability, special requirements and experiences
- To continually monitor and evaluate all sessions in order to adapt and improve on previous delivery
- To ensure all equipment associated with the delivery of the programme(s) is correctly set up, maintained, stored and returned on completion
- To undertake activity/venue risk assessments prior to all programmes and record and report incidents/accidents/hazards
- To support the learner through their coach education journey pre-programme, during the programme and post programme
- To develop relationships with local partners/the programme organiser (where applicable) when delivering a programme and liaise with them to ensure they remain happy with the service they are receiving
- To undertake administrative tasks associated with tutoring and assessing. This includes completion of programme attendance lists, registers, invoices and evaluation forms
- To take responsibility for continuous professional development (CPD) and attend relevant training programmes
- To attend mandatory workforce events organised by us
Verifiers/Quality assurers must also:
- Monitor the activities of the workforce ensuring they have time, resources and experience to carry out tutoring/assessment duties and taking appropriate action when they do not
- Undertake risk assessments of tutors and assessors, develop action plans and ensure these are agreed and supported
- Follow the internal quality assurance strategy, sampling plan and subsequent implementation
- Communicate with us to ensure the effective reporting and administration of quality assurance activities
Our workforce plays a crucial role in the development of all learners. Effective tutors/assessors/quality assurers ensure that individuals have positive experiences and are therefore more likely to continue in their development and achieve their learning potential. A high degree of honesty, integrity and competence is implicit within good tutoring practice and promotes a professional image. This Cultural code defines good practice in tutoring/assessing and quality assurance.
The cultural code and learner code of conduct can be found here
Effective practice should reflect the following four key principles
| Rights | Tutors/assessors/quality assurers must respect and champion the rights of every individual who attends a coach education programme. Tutors/assessors/quality assurers should:
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| Relationships | Tutors/assessors/quality assurers should develop a relationship with participants (and others) based on openness, honesty, mutual trust and respect. Tutors/assessors/quality assurers should:
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| Responsibilities – Personal Standards | Tutors/assessors/quality assurers should demonstrate suitable personal behaviour, conduct and appropriate dress at all times. They should:
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| Responsibilities – Professional Standards | To maximise benefits and minimise the risks to participants, tutors/assessors/quality assurers should attain a high level of competence through qualifications and a commitment to ongoing training that ensures current, safe and correct practice. They should:
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We acknowledge that some of these responsibilities may not be appropriate for assessors/quality assurers and is dependent on the context of the tutor/assessor/quality assurer role.
Lastly, as a member of our workforce, we expect tutors, assessors and quality assurers to maintain confidentiality and privacy of the programme material we provide. Learning programmes and resources developed by us are to be used only on our programmes. Consent must be gained prior to using any of our material elsewhere.
All the workforce will have an agreed job description and enter into a contractual agreement with us either in a salaried or Associate (self-employed) status. These agreements must be signed before entering into tutoring, assessing or quality assurance.
Within these agreements tutors/assessors/verifiers/quality assurers will agree to abide not only by the code of conduct, identified above but all the general policies and procedures of the company and in particular the Safeguarding, Equality and Health and Safety policies.
Mental and physical health
The mental health and well-being of all members of Sport Structures (including staff, learners and the workforce) are fundamental to our vision and values, specifically our values of integrity, excellence and togetherness. As part of our commitment to ensure we take mental health and well-being into consideration, we are working towards ensuring that:
- We support our staff to hold some level of mental health and wellbeing awareness training
- We respect that everyone needs to take care of their mental health and well-being and that some of us need more support than others
- We regularly seek feedback from you, our workforce, to identify if you are happy with the level of support and communication you seek from us
- We communicate awareness of mental health and well-being support services and resources available to support all individuals
If you would like to provide feedback or discuss how we can support well-being and be more inclusive, then please contact us
Delivering virtual training
As we have transitioned to delivering learning virtually, there are some simple steps we can take to maximise delivery and well-being. They include:
- Setting up your workspace appropriately (This video may be of use https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af7q5j14muc&feature=emb_logo )
- Creating the right environment (Appropriate temperature, lighting, atmosphere and away from your living space to reduce distractions)
- Making appropriate time for breaks
- Avoid awkward static postures by regularly changing positions
Your eye health is very important, and we recommend you have regular eye tests. The same principles apply to eye health as physical health in taking regular breaks from staring at a screen if you are working for prolonged periods in front of a computer.
If you need any advice and guidance on the above, please contact us.
Quality Assurance Strategy
All programmes are to be internally quality assured across a range of active satellite assessment sites, over a twelve-month period. Generally, all programmes will be quality assured through desk based or quality assurance visits and ultimately any sampling will be determined based on clear rationale which will be adjusted based on risk.
Risk is determined by:
- Feedback from internal/external quality assurance reports
- New workforce members and previous experience
- New course delivery
- Those that deliver a high volume of programmes and or work with a high volume of learners
- Feedback from learners, the workforce and other stakeholders
- Location of the programme
- Complexity and duration of the programme
- Previous quality assurance actions and compliance with actions
- Format of delivery (i.e. delivery of learning or assessment using a new or change of format)
- Any other variable that would affect the risk to quality assurance
The tutor and assessor workforce are given a rating thorough assessment by our staff and partner associates, where applicable.
The RAG rating is as follows:
- Red Rating – High Risk
- Amber Rating – Medium Risk
- Green Rating – Low Risk
Quality Assurance Activity
Quality assurance interventions may include:
- Observation of tutoring performance which may include online delivery
- Observation of assessment practice
- Desk-based review of learner work can be hard copy, soft copy or inputs onto online learning
- Learner interviews (face-to-face or online)
- Course organiser or employer feedback
- Internal process QA report
All quality assurance templates are available via our shared drive and are reviewed annually to ensure they are fit for purpose. They are available on the closed workforce website for review or use.
The frequency of quality assurance interventions will be determined by the level of risk assigned to the tutor/assessor. Risks will be assessed, and sampling may change based on this for example if video assessment is required then sampling may increase.
For further information, please see Quality Assurance Policy and Strategy.
We take seriously our use of private data. This covers your information and the learners and customers we come into contact with. Our privacy policy is available on our website here and is updated regularly. Our Data Protection Policy can be found on our website here. We are likely to send you personal information about other tutors, assessors, quality assurers and/or learners on a course you are delivering. You must destroy this information immediately following the course. The only exception is if you are supporting these learners through a longitudinal qualification.
If personal information has been shared by accident or otherwise you should email us immediately at education@sportstructures.com
Workforce Fees
We are responsible for paying tutors, assessors and quality assurers. Should you wish to clarify the fee you charge, please contact us via phone or email.
On receipt of both your invoice and the post-programme paperwork, payment will be made between 28 days and 33 days from the date. All programme paperwork must be returned and in good order prior to receipt of payment. This includes registers, spare resources, learner work for sampling and relevant forms. Please send your invoice to finance@sportstructures.com.
Mileage is to be calculated from your home address to the venue delivery address, as a round-trip, at a rate of 30p per mile, unless we specify otherwise. If you are going to be travelling from a venue other than your registered home address, please make our team aware of this, prior to confirming your availability to deliver. For programmes in London, we would expect you to use public transport where possible. Taxis should not be used in London without prior authorisation. Air travel must be booked by you after authorisation from us.
Claims may include rail tickets, essential taxis etc, for which receipts are required. Rail travel must be by economy/standard class for all journeys, taking advantage of advance booking discount fares where possible. Please include your expenses on your invoice.
Additional Fees and Subsidence
Any additional fees will only be paid if an agreement is in place with us prior to the programme. Additional fees are usually only agreed upon when a tutor/assessor/quality assurer is requested to significantly tailor the needs of a programme to meet a specific group or is requested to travel an excessive distance.
You are expected to be fully equipped to supply your services. The costs of printer ink cartridges, postage, stationery and other consumables are not reclaimable.
Overnight Accommodation and Evening Meals
Overnight accommodation, if required, should be authorised by us prior to any accommodation being booked. Overnight accommodation can be requested if the venue is further than 100 miles away from your home. This should be booked by you and this should be claimed back on your invoice. Claims submitted for non-approved expenses cannot be paid. You may choose to use more expensive alternatives but may only claim the appropriate maximum rate.
Claims for overnight accommodation must not exceed £60. When an overnight stay is required, an evening meal may be claimed. A claim for an evening meal must not include alcoholic drinks and must not exceed £15. Receipts for all accommodation and meal expenses must still be evidenced using the expense form.
Receipts
A receipt must accompany any claim for expenses. If you do not have proof of purchase, we will be unable to reimburse you.