Level 3 Community Sport and Health Officer Apprenticeship Standard

Apprenticeships are work-based courses which involve learning and gaining qualifications while working for an employer. An apprentice works at the employer’s premises, gaining practical experience and skills while working towards a qualification which is relevant to their job.

The key role of a Community Sport and Health Officer (CSHO) is to initiate behaviour change in local residents with regards engagement in sport and physical activity across local communities.

By working within and across local organisations individuals will scope, organise and coordinate the delivery of opportunities for local communities to get more physically active. Employers are likely to come from the private, public, charitable and third sector and deliver core business activities in the fields of leisure, sport, youth work, youth justice, outdoor education, or public health.

A CSHO requires a comprehensive understanding of the principles of behaviour change; an ability to adapt delivery to suit different groups in society; knowledge of how to manage and lead colleagues or volunteers; practical experience of how to develop and devise appropriate sports or physical activity programmes; and the expectations of collaborative work with a network of partners / stakeholders.

The role is a flexible one and in this role individuals can expect to work varied and unsociable hours, including evenings /weekends, and during school holiday periods. It is unlikely individuals will undertake a regular daily work pattern or set of recurring tasks. Tasks might include attendance at meetings, supervising sessions, liaising with partner organisations, designing marketing collateral, updating social media or reporting against project criteria. It is also important for the CSHO to understand their limitations and boundaries, working with specialists from other professions where appropriate – this may include:

• Police and uniformed services
• Allied Health Professionals
• Counsellors
• personal trainers
• sports coaches
• Youth workers

The occupation exists within the sport for development sector that plays an important role in improving the health of the nation
– creating opportunities that get more people, more active, more often.

The Community Sport and Health Officer will understand and be able to demonstrate and apply the following skills:

• Successful application of tactics and strategies to empower people from inactive and hard to reach populations to take up an active lifestyle
• Successful application of a range of approaches that bring about changes in attitudes and behaviours within target communities
• Supporting people within target communities to become involved in the preparation, planning and delivery of sport and active lifestyles
• Using local insight and customer-orientated marketing skills to attract high priority groups into existing leisure, parks and sport infrastructure
• Negotiation, lobbying and brokerage skills with local partners across public health, community development and anti-social behaviour
• Demonstrate clear and effective communication techniques in order to give/receive information accurately and in a timely and positive manner
• Problem solving and effective decision making with regards the design and implementation of sport and physical activity programmes
• Writing successful funding bids to enable new, different or more opportunities to take place for sport and physical activity
• Managing disruptive behaviour of clients and customers before, during and after activities
• Managing and adapting personal behaviours to ensure provision is inclusive, customer-focused and accessible
• Building partnerships and developing meaningful relationships with local partners and stakeholders in sport and physical activity

The knowledge, skills and behaviours for this role will be developed over the duration of the apprenticeship.
Maths and English will be embedded within the apprenticeship.