Working in partnership with Scottish Student Sport and the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport & Physical Activity (CIMSPA), sportscotland has created a resource hub for students and partners to support them in arranging and managing placements for students in sport.
The aim is to have clear mechanisms in place to help the development and implementation of quality and effective work-based placements for students in sport. The placements section of the website and PASS (Placement Agreement for Students in Sport) tools aim to help students, colleges and employers get the most from the sporting system. By guiding and sharing good practice, we are aiming to support placement design, and by informing and connecting placement opportunities, we hope to share good practice to encourage a process of continuous improvement.
We know that quality work-based learning experiences can develop skills, helping young people in particular to reach positive destinations. Placements in sport can also help boost employability for students through learning experiences across a variety of roles in the sport sector.
Working in partnership
A 2023/24 work placement partnership between sportscotland, UHI Perth, Live Active and others allowed many students in the Perth area with the opportunity to gain experience tailored to their own individual interests, required learning and overall career goals. This partnership resulted in over 5,000 placement hours taking place across over 100 different placements.
We also spoke to Ross Taylor, Community Sport Hub Coordinator and Acting Sport & Physical Activity Lead from ANGUSalive about his experience of working on the development of work placements for students in sport. Working with Lauren Simpson, Active Campus Coordinator, Sarah Ramminger, one of the course lecturers at Dundee & Angus College, and Jonny Glen, Placement Coordinator at Abertay University, this is a strong example of community and higher and further education working together to help learners access industry-level placements.
Here's what Ross told us: "The opportunity to connect with various stakeholders around college placement opportunities has been of such high value to our network of clubs and volunteers who benefit from the new faces, skills and resource at a time when volunteers are getting harder to come by. Placements can result employment opportunities in sport and physical activity, which we are already seeing happen in 2024."
Making connections
Sarah who is a 4th year student at Abertay is a great example of the positive impact of an effective placement. Sarah was a placement student from the University of Abertay, who also now volunteers at hub meetings and is a key member of the Hub Connect project as well as being employed by ANGUSalive as a sports advisor and Health and wellbeing activity deliverer.
Sarah told us: “I was able to apply for my job because of the experience I got on placement. I really enjoyed my placement, and it gave me that first step into the world of work and working in sport. I gained a lot of confidence form going to meetings and made a lot of connections to people in sport.”
Benefits of student placements
Kirsty Mackay from South Ayrshire’s Active Schools team, is convinced that student placements bring multiple benefits to the student and the organisation.
Kirsty shared this with us: “Many of our team have come through the local college/university routes and managing student placements is crucial in our workforce planning. Everyone benefits – it’s great for schools and communities as student placements provide local opportunities to get involved in sport and physical activity. It can also help us to ensure we’re delivering quality programmes where they’re needed and we find that it’s helpful for the team to understand their role as mentors, supporting student placements can be a vital part of their own development.
Developing placement opportunities
We are here to help you make the right connections, locally or nationally to support students ready to take on a placement and to guide you to make it work for your team or organisation. We’re also interested in hearing about successful placements that you’ve been involved in that you might want to share with other partners across the sporting system.
