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Sport can build young people’s employability skills
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How can sport be used to build a more secure future for the youth, and build skills to prepare them for their entry into the labour market?

At AoC Sport, we are increasingly hearing from employers that they are seeking young people with not only the specialist technical skills, but also core employability or soft skills which are transferable between different jobs and sectors. It is these skills that involvement in sport can help grow and develop.

It’s important to acknowledge that engagement in sport can also support the development of technical skills or physical attributes for employment and not just for those looking to enter the sport sector.

Whilst sport is not the standalone solution, it is certainly an attractive hook for many young people and can provide a conduit to employability programmes. There are countless examples of activities that use sport to engage young people, and often those who may not traditionally engage with an employability programme.

We have seen colleges successfully deliver fit for work programmes, which encourage students to participate in sport and physical activity to better prepare them for the physical demands of their chosen industry and future work placements. An example of this is construction students taking part in climbing sessions to get used to operating at heights.

Future prospects

Research shows that young people who participate or volunteer in sport are often more successful in gaining employment and tend to earn more money than those who do not.

More than half of students on the AoC Sport This Girl Can Ambassador programme said they had recorded an increase across eight attributes of personal development by the end of the programme (communication, teamwork, leadership, planning and organisation, self-motivation, confidence, self-esteem, and problem solving). The intention of this programme was not about personal development, but involvement provided a learning environment for those skills to develop.

Furthermore, evidence from our British Active Student Survey demonstrated that 90% of students thought that involvement in sport and physical activity improved their employability or acceptance into university.

Partnership working

Whilst it is hard to admit, we also need to recognise that sport is not the silver bullet to gaining employment and that sport alone can’t do anything about environmental issues such as lack of job opportunities. Sport is just part of the solution in supporting young people to develop employability skills. A whole systems approach is required to address the youth unemployment landscape.

The sport sector needs to work in partnership with local and national partners who can help to address some of the systemic challenges, such as ensuring ALL young people get access to accurate and inspiring careers advice that is aligned to economic need.

CIMSPA has done a lot of work to articulate a careers map for our sector but many look like a London Underground map and would surely be confusing to a young person. Below is an example that has previously been shared from a college.

 

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What are the skills required?

There are various lists of employability skills which are determined by groups of businesses and membership organisations. While there is lots of overlap in these lists, it would be really helpful for students, teachers, parents and careers staff to agree upon some common language around the skills required and how we group them. Common skills, hard skills, employability skills, employment skills, essential skills – the list goes on and it creates a messy landscape for us to understand.

One thing we do know is that there are some incredibly talented young people out there with latent ability for whom sport might just be the carrot that helps them fulfil their potential and for that reason alone sport will continue to play an important role in skill development.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Matt Rhodes is Policy Manager at AoC Sport and engages partners and decision makers on key issues which impact a college’s ability to offer students a diverse sport and physical activity offer and deliver a high-quality study programme. He also works with the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA) to help colleges develop the sport and physical activity workforce of the future.

About AoC Sport

AoC Sport is the membership organisation for colleges, leading the development of sport and physical activity in 16+ education. We believe that sport and physical activity are essential components of college life, giving students significant advantages in education, employment and health. Our vision is for every college student to participate regularly in sport or physical activity.

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Sport
All sports
Sustainable Development Goals
4 – Quality education
Target Group
Youth

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