Bishop Burton College accredited with ground-breaking dual career scheme

Backed by Sport England, the TASS Dual Career Accreditation Scheme formally recognises the college’s commitment to support young athletes gain qualifications alongside their sporting pursuits, following other interests, as well as furthering their personal development.

The college has been running its highly successful performance sport academies for a number of years allowing talented athletes to access top-class coaching and training, alongside their academic studies. Open to students on any course and working alongside professional performance coaches to reach their full potential, players have to maintain high standards with their academic studies. Academic timetables incorporate time to train and play, with both academic and sporting performance monitored regularly.

Sport Development Manager, Kim Meadows said “As a college we have a duty of care to prepare our students for the world beyond and so having a balance of academic achievement alongside sporting success is hugely important as it provides them with choices. The vast majority of athletes inevitably pursue alternative careers once their sporting days are over, therefore having skills and qualifications means they are prepared for the future; with the option to progress into employment or onto higher education. The college’s sports academies were created with this in mind and so for the hard work, success and achievement of these to be recognised with a national accreditation is fantastic.”

As a Dual Career Accredited Site, Bishop Burton will be an important extension of the network of colleges and universities that partner with TASS, delivering core support services to more than 600 student-athletes each year. These support services include physiotherapy, nutrition, lifestyle support, psychology strength and conditioning and a private medical scheme. The dual career support structure and academic flexibility policies are central to the help available to athletes at the college.

All Dual Career Accredited Sites receive training and a toolkit of resources to equip them with practical dual career support and bring together all parties who work with the athlete. For student-athletes, the academic flexibility policies may mean they have the opportunity to access online notes or resources, are able to arrange catch up sessions with teaching staff, or even reschedule deadlines or exam dates in exceptional circumstances.

Sarah Milton, Director of Sport commented “This is an absolutely fantastic achievement for the team at Bishop Burton. The accreditation is testament to the hard work our lecturers, coaches and mentors have put in with all of our student athletes to enable them to be effective performers, alongside their academic studies. We are excited to be working as a TASS partner to provide even more young athletes with the opportunity to realise their ambitions for the future. ”

TASS National Director, Guy Taylor, said: “We’re delighted to be awarding TASS Dual Career Accreditation to colleges and universities across England. Dual career support is at the forefront of what TASS does and that’s why the Accreditation Scheme is so important for us in recognising those institutions who place precedence on their athletes’ education too. Congratulations to the successful institutions and we look forward to working alongside many more outstanding colleges and universities in the near future.”