UKDS-CLL April 2010
UK DISABILITY SPORT COACHING, LEARNING AND LEADERSHIP GROUP
Recommendations and Goals paper
Section 1 – AN INTRODUCTION TO DISABILITY SPORT
1.1
Background
The involvement of Home Nation disability sports organisations in the consultation and
development of the UK Coaching Framework coincided with a national call by key partners for
greater clarity in the development and provision of coaching and leadership within disability sport.
The UK Disability Sport Coaching, Learning and Leadership group (UKDS-CLL) was created and
met for the first time on 1 February 2007. The UK members aim to lead and shape the
requirements for disability sports coaching and leadership throughout the UK and inform the UK
Coaching Framework and its associated 5 Strategic Actions on issues relating to the needs of
disabled coaches and coaches of disabled people.
1.2
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to set the context for children, athletes and players with a disability 1
and recognise their position and importance within the evolving UK Coaching System. The paper
outlines key issues about the disability sport movement and disability sport that are applicable
and relevant throughout the UK and to offer a reference point from which inclusive UK Coaching
Framework developments should evolve.
The members of the UKDS-CLL group hope that future policy decisions and technical
developments can be referenced back to these recommendations which have been developed and
agreed by all members of the group.
1.3
Scene Setting: Key statements about disability sport.
Disability sport provides participation and competition opportunities for athletes and players of
differing abilities. To be eligible an athlete or player must have an impairment which is consistent
with the Minimum Disability Criteria (MDC) for the sport. Included in national and international
disability sport are the following impairment groups and associated examples of sports available
at Paralympic, Deaflympics or World level):

Wheelchair users – e.g. basketball, fencing, sledge hockey, curling, rugby, badminton
etc

Ambulant athletes with a physical impairment (amputees, dwarfs etc) – e.g. cycling,
table tennis, volleyball etc

Blind and partially sighted athletes – judo, football, goalball, cycling, skiing etc

Athletes with cerebral palsy, acquired brain injury including stroke – boccia,
football, athletics etc

Deaf and hard of hearing athletes – football, swimming, rugby etc

Athletes with a learning disability – the International Federation for sport for people
with an intellectual disability (INAS-FID) major events programme will continue to develop
as discussions with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) progress in the lead up
to London 2012. Twenty one sports were included on the Special Olympics programme for
the GB Summer Games in Leicester in 2009.
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 states that a person has a disability if (s)he has a
physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long- term adverse effect on their
ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Impairment is defined as the loss or limitation of
physical, mental or sensory function on a long term or permanent basis. Impairment can be
congenital or acquired. This definition covers a number of groups not included in disability sport,
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examples include: those with long-term health problems, HIV, cancer, and mental health
condition2.
As with mainstream sport, disability sport offers children, athletes and players recreational options
and opportunities to be physically active. Similarly there is also access to pathways that leads
from local competition and training to national and international experiences determined by
eligibility and meeting set classification criteria.
UK disability sports organisations offer a wide range of competitive opportunities for individuals of
all levels of ability. These form part of the world wide performance sport pathway, which is
governed by International Disability Sports Organisations and the IPC, and include:

Paralympic Games – athletes who are blind, visually impaired, athletes with a learning
disability or physically disabled

Deaflympics – athletes who are deaf or hard of hearing
It is possible that an athlete satisfies the DDA eligibility criteria for disability but there is no
international performance pathway for that athlete in disability sport e.g. recreational boccia is
available throughout the UK for players with a learning disability but not at international level.
Disability sport has its origins at Stoke Mandeville hospital where sport was considered a valuable
tool in the rehabilitation process for injured soldiers returning from the Second World War. In
those early years only wheelchair users were offered training in sports such as archery, athletics
and shooting. As national and international sports movements have developed many more sports
were added, as athletes and players from different impairment groups joined the international
disability sports family, under the direction of the IPC (International Paralympic Committee).
Some sports such as swimming, athletics, equestrianism and bowls have become all embracing
(pan disability) and include competition opportunities for athletes with different impairments
within the same event programme. Other sports have been developed for communities with
specific impairments. Examples include goalball for blind participants, boccia (for players with
cerebral palsy and high support needs) and many others for participants who use a wheelchair for
sports (wheelchair basketball and rugby etc).
The water based sports of rowing and sailing have only recently been adapted for athletes with a
disability and the target sports of archery and shooting have been part of the Paralympic
programme since its inception.
1.4
Talent Identification
There are only a finite number of disabled children, athletes and players active within sport; this
means that in some cases the number of individuals available and interested in competition within
that sport may be lower than within non-disability sports. Those athletes and players with high
support needs will perhaps focus on a specific range of performance sports, and until other sports
become established providers of participation and performance opportunity, sports like swimming,
athletics, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, and boccia will continue to enjoy higher
participation rates and therefore success at International level. Sports such as cycling, rowing,
and equestrian have only recently experienced exposure and success on the world stage and have
joined the competition for new athletes and players.
The search for talent is one shared with all competitive sports, however, a primary difference
between disability and non-disability sport is that disabled athletes and players may excel in a
number of sports and comfortably transfer between sports and events within sports during a
career. This can be challenging for coaches when preparing development programmes for
performance athletes and may be linked, along with a lack of performance coaches, to successful
coaches working across a number of sports and events and being proactive in talent transfer.
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1.5
Classification in completion
Classification in disability sport has two important functions; to determine eligibility to compete,
and to group athletes and players for competition. Classification is the process by which athletes
and players are systematically grouped into sports classes according to their physical or sensory
function for each sport. Classification provides a structure for competition that ensures that an
athlete’s impairment is relevant to sport performance and that the athlete competes fairly with
other athletes and players. An athlete may meet the eligibility criteria for one Paralympic sport but
not be eligible to compete in another.
1.6
Including disabled people in sport and physical activity
Disabled people are either born with a specific congenital impairment e.g. spina bifida or cerebral
palsy or ‘acquire’ their impairment as a result of an injury or illness e.g. spinal paralysis, multiple
sclerosis. Furthermore some impairments are progressive, such as multiple sclerosis, and others
like cerebral palsy are non – progressive. It is also important to remember that the prevalence of
disability increases with age.
There are an ever increasing number of children and young people with complex impairments and
some high support needs, and varied abilities present in school and community settings (e.g.
autistic spectrum disorders, severe physical/learning disabilities). Without appropriate training
and preparation through inclusive, participant-centred coach education or leadership awards
teachers, coaches and leaders may be presented with some significant challenges3.
Studies indicate that levels of participation in physical activity, including sport and physical
education, across all age groups of disabled people, are significantly lower than the mainstream
population4. Children, young people, adults and older adults with a disability, have fewer options
to be physically active within sport than their non disabled peers, and choices are restricted5.
Many organisations are involved in the disability sports participation and performance pathway
and roles and responsibilities are sometimes unclear. Duplication of service provision is
commonplace and communication between organisations needs to be improved to maximise
current and potential resources.
Studies indicate that some disabled people become involved in disability sport as volunteers, but
few play an active role in coaching, leadership, learning or officiating6. Throughout the UK there is
a shortage of qualified personnel coaching children, athletes and players with a disability of all
levels of ability. National training for teachers, coaches, sports leaders, volunteers, as well as,
leisure and recreation staff is offered by many agencies. Interest and uptake is poor, even though
training is usually part of minimum operating standards. Tutor training, course content and key
messages vary widely, impacting on quality and consistency7.
Disabled pupil’s and student’s access to quality physical education in schools and colleges across
the UK varies considerably. Initial Teacher training and post qualification CPD opportunities are
inconsistent and squeezed by packed degree curriculum and pressure on inset training8.
Curriculum physical education is a statutory entitlement of all children and young people. This
should mean the inclusion of disabled pupils of all levels of ability. It is the one element of the
delivery system that should be genuinely comprehensive. Attitudinal and environmental barriers
should be challenged and where appropriate removed.
1.7
Inclusive coaching explained
Within the National Curriculum inclusion is defined as: “the active presence, participation and
achievement of all pupils in a meaningful and relevant set of learning experiences” (The National
Curriculum for England at key stages 3 and 4 was first published by QCA in 2007). Teaching and
coaching philosophies aspire to the inclusion of all learners by offering appropriate learning
challenges and recognising and reacting to the diverse learning needs of all children, athletes and
players. For these goals to be achieved real and perceived barriers to learning and assessment
have to be overcome for individuals and groups of varying abilities.
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Inclusive coaching must be child, athlete and player-centred, where coaches, teachers and leaders
who are appropriately skilled, experienced in differentiation and self-motivated, form an active
and qualified workforce as part of a cohesive coaching and leadership system.When planning and
preparing to coach disabled or non-disabled participants, coaches should consider the diverse
learning needs and abilities of each child, athlete or player when prioritising individual and team
goals and aspirations.
The Inclusion Spectrum should assist practical delivery, and is an activity-based model that can
provide further information and direction regarding the most appropriate coaching or learning
environment for meaningful inclusion of children, athletes and players with a disability into sports
sessions. Inclusive coaching also includes disabled people as a valued part of the coaching
workforce with efforts made to provide appropriate support towards that workforce being
representative of society as a whole.
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Section 2 - RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE MEMBERS OF THE UKDS-CLL GROUP
2.1 Strategic Action Area 1: UK Coaching System
The role of the UK Disability Sport – Coaching Learning and Leadership group
The UKDS–CLL Group aims to inform the UK Coaching Framework and its associated 5 Strategic
Actions on issues relating to the needs of disabled coaches and coaches of disabled people. The
UKDS–CLL Group will act to share knowledge and promote best practice within organisations and
Home Countries, respecting that Governing Bodies of Sport are recognised as the lead agencies in
sport-specific coaching, working in close partnership with clubs, schools, communities, Local
Authorities, Further and Higher education sectors and others.
The origins of the UKDS–CLL Group lie with the Home Nations principal officers (CEO) forum, for
who, the Terms of reference (TOR) have been written and agreed. The membership represents
the main UK partners in disability sport active in the fields of coaching, learning and leadership.
The UKDS-CLL Group recommends:
1.
The UKDS-CLL Group, established in February 2007, is acknowledged by mainstream and
disability sport in its role to lead and influence the requirements of disability sports
coaching and leadership through a defined action plan
The nature of the Coach and Participant pathways
It is a principle of The UK Coaching Framework, and widely accepted in sports development, that
quality coaches, teachers and leaders should be available at all stages of participant development.
The needs and abilities of athletes and players with a disability should therefore be considered
during the training of coaches, teachers and leaders with sports encouraged to offer high quality
coaching, leadership and learning at all stages within the player pathways.
The UKDS-CLL Group recommends:
2. Governing Body Participant pathways are developed to provide access to inclusive quality
coaching, leadership and learning for children and adults in a wide variety of settings.
3.
Governing Body Coach pathways are developed to support the needs of disabled coaches
and volunteers
Sports participation opportunities are provided for disabled children, young people and adults by a
range of organisations throughout the UK. Many of these recreational and competitive
opportunities currently fall outside of governing body pathways. It is essential that partnership
working between organisations improves to ensure appropriate entry routes, progression and
talent pathways are established and that NGB’s are fully aware of the breadth of provision within
their sports. Home Country Disability Sport Organisations (HNDSOs), will work to support this
process committing available resources, based on the readiness of partners and their willingness
to engage.
The UKDS-CLL Group recommends:
4. Community Networks (regional and local sports partnerships and development units), act
to map disability specific, non-NGB, participation and competition opportunities, and make
this information available to sports governing bodies.
5. National Governing Body and National Club accreditation schemes should include criteria
relevant to providing disabled athletes and players with a quality sporting experience.
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2.2 Strategic Action Area 2: Front-line Coaching
It is a principle of The UK Coaching Framework, and widely accepted in sports development, that
children and young people develop at different rates and reach different developmental stages at
varying ages. Including disabled children and young people in mainstream sports provision helps
to extend the range of participant abilities. Some children and young people with specific
impairments have their own unique rates of development. Significant numbers of disabled children
and young people are less active than their mainstream peers. Physical literacy and improved
health and well-being are recognised as critical interventions to bringing about change.
Pre-school and school based physical activity experiences must create the foundations on which
future sport specific participation and performance pathways are built. It is essential that these
experiences are delivered by quality, well trained leaders, teachers and coaches who understand
and appreciate that every child has different needs and abilities.
The UKDS-CLL Group recommends:
6. All nationally funded ‘Front-line Coaching’ programmes provided to children and young
people e.g. fundamentals and multi-skills opportunities are fully inclusive of children with
different impairments.
7. Government and Administration/Assembly Education Departments are made fully aware of
the vital importance that children and young people with a disability in mainstream and
specialist education provision are taught basic movement skills in order that all disabled
children are given the best possible chance of becoming and staying physically active.
8. A UK-wide programme to develop the fundamental movement skills of children and young
people with a disability is undertaken within mainstream and specialist education provision
to ensure all disabled children are given the best possible chance of becoming and staying
physically active.
9. National Minimum Standards of Deployment for Coaches include Disability Inclusion
Training as a standard expected of all coaches.
10. Any national data management scheme or list of recommended data fields includes data
using the following fields:







Physical Disability
Learning Disability
Sensory: (Blind and partially sighted)
Sensory: (Deaf and hard of hearing)
Other including multiple impairments
Medical Condition (Please specify............)
I prefer not to answer this question
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2.3 Strategic Action Area 3: Support for Coaches
Coach Education and Development Programmes
In recent years the introduction of National Occupational Standards (NOS) and the Coaching Task
Force have had a significant impact on increasing the quality and standardisation of qualification
levels, most notably through the UK Coaching Certificate endorsement process.
The accuracy of the NOS, against which all qualifications must be written if they are to be
nationally recognised and positioned on the Qualifications and Curriculum Framework (QCF), is
paramount to the effective development of coaches, and the wider development of coaching. The
Sector Qualifications Strategy has provided a fantastic opportunity to review existing NOS and
create NOS specifically for coaching. By ensuring the NOS for coaching are meaningful to the
coaching industry, in terms of structure, terminology and content, there could be greater clarity,
agreement and consistency in meeting the needs of disabled participants and coaches across the
sector.
The UKDS-CLL Group recommends:
10. National Occupational Standards for coaching (NOSC) and UK Coaching Certificate
qualification guidance and endorsement process should maximise the knowledge,
understanding, skills and competencies recognising the needs of disabled children, athletes
and players and the requirements of disability sport eg rules, classification etc
11. ‘Coaches of Children’ either as a specific population within NOS for coaching or as a
qualification should include the needs of disabled children.
12. That training providers, including NGB’s, introduce at level 1 assistant coach, as a core
component, the competency to support the delivery of physical activity including sport, to
children and adults with a physical, sensory or learning disability, meeting the core
competences outlined by UKDS–CLL Group partners in the multi agency Disability Inclusion
Training programme.
13. That training providers, including NGB’s, provide coach education which offers an
opportunity to specialise in coaching of disabled children and adults at Senior (Level 3
UKCC) and Master Coach (Level 4 UKCC) level.
14. Practical disability sport learning experiences are provided as part of qualifications for
current and newly qualified coaches, teachers and leaders eg placements should be
appropriate and suitable for the skill level and cover, over time, a range of ages, abilities
and impairment groups.
15. Investment targeted at funding accessible routes for disabled people into leadership and
coaching and for those unqualified volunteers working in pan-disability and multi-sport
clubs should be provided to kick start routes into training and skills development.
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2.4 Strategic Area 4: Professionally Regulated Vocation
Every individual delivering or supporting the delivery of physical activity, including sport and
physical education, to disabled children, young people and adults should accept the generic core
values and care recommendations, skills and knowledge developed in ‘Every Child Matters Change for Children’ (HMSO 2006 Working Together to Safeguard Children- a guide to inter
agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children). In so doing coaching will be
more easily perceived as a “professionally regulated vocation” in the broader employment sector.
The UKDS-CLL Group recommends:
16. A professional training consortium should be identified, or set up, to accredit or kite mark,
provision of workshops and modules of initial disability inclusion training, to ensure agreed
professional standards are met.
17. That within any national registration or coach licensing scheme or standard; coaches who
have gained specific technical, higher level qualifications relevant to specific impairment
groups or classifications-based coach education, is recorded and appropriately recognised.
18. That a co-ordinated two point profile raising campaign is undertaken:

to target increased use of qualified coaches within disability sport

to promote coaching as an occupation and as a career that is open to disabled people
2.5 Strategic Action Area 5: Research and Development
The research knowledge base on disabled children, athletes and players and sport has been
building over the past thirty years with a number of leading figures and centres of study making
valuable contributions in Europe and across the world. The field of disability sport and inclusive
coaching is however, at an earlier stage of development, and requires significant further research
to allow evidence based decision making. The ‘Sports Coaching in the UK’ studies undertaken in
2004 and 2007 provided a benchmark on the numbers, level of qualification, hours of coaching
delivered, and experiences of coaches with a disability and those coaches delivering to disabled
children, athletes and players. In order to continue knowledge and refine provision a concerted
effort is required to collate the data, and inform the key developments for coaching over the next
decade.
The UKDS-CLL Group recommends:
19. That a review of the existing knowledge base on experiences, adaptations and support
programmes provided for disabled coaches and coaches of disabled children and adults be
undertaken to extract common themes, recommendations and best practice.
20. That best practice guidance and templates, provided to NGB’s and regional sports networks
as part of coach workforce research, include the demand and supply of coaches delivering
to disabled children and adults.
21. That ‘Sports Coaching in the UK’ studies continue to collect data on disabled sports
coaches, and provide as much detail as possible regarding delivery populations and the
demographics of participation, performance and opportunity.
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Notes
1
Within this paper the terminology ‘person with a disability’ will be used; however, across the
Home Nations this terminology may differ, therefore where ‘person with a disability’ is included,
also read ‘disabled person’
2
Whilst these groups do not have explicit pathways available through competitive disability sport
pathways, individuals from the aforementioned groups can be involved with sport.
See ‘Sport and People with a Disability: Aiming at Social Inclusion’, A report for SportScotland,
2001
3
Sport England Survey conducted in 2000 identified that 75% of young disabled people who
responded to their Young Disabled People and Sport Survey suggested that they enjoy PE lessons
in school, however there was a significant difference in the amount of time disabled pupils spent
doing PE in school when compared to non-disabled pupils (20% of the overall population of
disabled pupils spent 2 or more hours a week in PE lessons, compared to 33% of the overall
population of non-disabled pupils). The number of hours spent in PE, not only varied with age
and sex, but was decreased when the survey filtered the responses into groups based on the
number of impairments the pupil had, the higher the number of impairments the more likely the
pupil was to spend less than 30 minutes a week in PE lessons (i.e. 12% of pupils with 1
impairment spent less than 30 minutes in PE, compared to 20% of pupils with 7 – 9 impairments;
and correspondingly, 24% of those pupils identified as having 1 impairment participated in 2 or
more hours of PE, compared to 16% of pupils identified as having 7 – 9 impairments). The
authors of the survey suggested that a fundamental reason for lower levels of participation in
school PE within the population of disabled pupils was that they were not provided with the
opportunity to participate in as much PE as they would have liked; rather than that they were not
interested in sport per se.
4
Smith, A. & Thomas, N. (2005). The inclusion of elite athletes with disabilities in the 2002
Manchester Commonwealth Games: An exploratory analysis of British newspaper coverage. Sport,
Education & Society, 10, (1), pp.49 - 67
5
A report produced for Sport England on the KPI’s of the Community Sports Coach Scheme in
March 2005, identified that only 1% of all those employed as CSC’s were disabled
coaches/coaches with a disability
(http://www.sportengland.org/community_sports_coach_scheme_key_performance_indicator_an
alysis_report_as_at_31_march_2005.doc, p5); and of those coaches who applied for a CSC’s
position (whether full or part time) 15% were successful in their application. The report also
identified that of those receiving coaching, 3.7% are disabled participants, which means that the
majority of disabled people receiving coaching are being coached by a non-disabled person. In
the light of the fact that ‘The UK Coaching Task Force – Final Report (1999) reminds us that
“Women, disabled people and ethnic minority coaches are important role models for young
people, not only in inspiring them to achieve as athletes, but also as a reminder that coaching can
be a viable career for all, regardless of gender, race or disability”, it is imperative that the
percentage of disabled coaches across the UK increases.
6
See ‘The UK Coaching Task Force – Final Report’(1999),
http://www.culture.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/20A8B57D-B748-4A92-88DF3D4F924C70F6/0/coachingreport2002.pdf
7
See Golder, G., Norwich, B., and Bayliss, P. (2005). Preparing teachers to teach pupils with
special educational needs in more inclusive schools: evaluating a PGCE development. British
Journal of Special Education, 32 (2) , pp.92–99
8
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