7 June 2007
We received a petition asking:
"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to allow access to the UK Coaching Certificate to associations and individuals who are not covered by the restrictive framework of recognition as implemented by Sports Councils under their system of National Governing Bodies. It is a fact that the Sports Councils recognise only a small minority of the huge diversity of Martial Arts and through no fault of their own are being DENIED recognition as well as the FREEDOM of choice to decide whether to remain independent of that structure."
Details of petition:
"The Government has decided to introduce a sport wide "United Kingdom Coaching Certificate" as a standard recognised qualification for all sports coaches. However this qualification will only be made available and accessible through those organisations recognised by the Sports Council, meaning that the vast majority of groups and individuals within the Martial Arts industry will be excluded."
Read the Government’s response
In July 2002, the Government’s Coaching Taskforce recommended the establishment of a UK Coaching Certificate (UKCC) (new window) to improve the quality and consistency of coach education and training across sports. Since then, sports coach UK, our lead body on coaching, have been working with 21 sports on their UKCC qualifications.
These qualifications are developed by National Source Groups led by the appropriate Sports Council recognised British or Home Country Governing Body. National Source Groups include other representatives of the sport across the UK, e.g. officials from other recognised Home Country Governing Bodies. Once a qualification has been submitted to sports coach UK and endorsed, it will normally be delivered by the Governing Bodies, but other organisations can apply to become approved centres to deliver the qualification.
The endorsement of a UKCC qualification in a particular sport does not prevent organisations from continuing to offer their existing coaching qualifications nor are coaches legally required to take that UKCC qualification in order to coach, although we hope that as the UKCC scheme develops the quality of the qualification will become clear and greater numbers of coaches will opt to enhance their skills through UKCC.
Judo is the only martial art in which UKCC qualifications are currently being developed. The British Judo Association (BJA) have submitted UKCC qualifications to sports coach UK for endorsement but these have not yet been endorsed.
Independent martial arts groups have expressed concern that access to Judo qualifications may be limited to members of the BJA. Our position is clear. UKCC qualifications must be accessible to all. The BJA are currently working on arrangements to ensure that members of individual martial arts groups who have the necessary technical competence to coach safely are able to access the qualification.
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