Shrewsbury Colleges Group (SCG) has been chosen as one of only a handful of college to partake in a consultation process to pilot the English Colleges Football Association (ECFA) Accreditation Stars System.
The pilot, in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University, is a new tool that for AoC Sport member colleges to be recognised for the good practice that exists within their football offers, as well helping them to understand where to focus their time and investment to further improve their offer moving forwards.
Shrewsbury Colleges Group has been given the opportunity to shape the process for all further education colleges and to be a part of a national development process.
Jackie Swan, Curriculum Leader at SCG, said: The ECFA is an exciting opportunity for the college as it provides a platform of criteria for colleges to aspire to and raise the profile of football programmes across the country. Our students/ players will benefit in so many ways. They will be actively involved in the essential planning and development of improving participation, competition, and community links within the sport.”
The pilot uses a holistic framework that requires institutions to consider their extra-curricular football provision across four areas: participation, competition, workforce, and community.
Recognition will be awarded via ‘stars’ with one star, two stars and three stars attainable for each strand as well as for the overall college football offer. The overall stars awarded will be equal to the lowest strand star rating - this is purposeful in order to encourage holistic football development instead of encouraging colleges just to focus on one area, albeit this is still recognised through individual strand stars awarded.