Summary
We were contracted to complete a review of the workforce development pathway in British Dressage. British Dressage ran a number of programmes including Young Professionals, Diploma in Sporting Excellence (DiSE) and Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE) to support and develop talent in their sector, but identified an opportunity to make their approach more joined-up to create a sustainable, inclusive and fit-for-purpose pathway to address the future needs of their equestrian businesses.
Approach
British Dressage conducted a thorough analysis of their programmes from all stakeholders in the industry and based on these findings we worked collaboratively with British Dressage to shape a workforce development pathway that kept the strengths of the current programmes but addressed the issues highlighted.
We reviewed a number of options including funded programmes available such as DiSE and apprenticeships and shared examples of other ‘people plans’ we had developed with sports organisations showing the mix of funded and non-funded training, CPD and mentoring that they included. We worked closely with British Dressage staff, including contributions from the Training and Education Manager, Coach Educators and those responsible for the curriculum and quality of current programmes currently being delivered and created a clear workforce development pathway framework.
Outcome
A clear workforce development pathway was shaped to address all the issues in the current system and further strengthen the those areas that were working well. In addition, we shared a number of recommendations to support the successful implementation of the workforce development pathway so British Dressage could take the next step in creating a sustainable, inclusive and fit-for-purpose pathway to address the future needs of equestrian businesses.
