New toolkit and digital badge for coaches launched

UK Coaching has launched a new toolkit that will ensure coaches are equipped with the knowledge and skills to provide great coaching experiences to others, and support them as coaches to better look after themselves as they return to coaching after COVID-19 restrictions are relaxed.

The Duty to Care Toolkit, which will be available on UK Coaching’s learning and development platform, ukcoaching.org, has come to fruition after extensive consultative support from a range of partners and coaches across the UK.

Set across five areas, known as pillars – Diversity, Inclusion, Mental Health, Safeguarding and Well-being – the toolkit will challenge coaches to demonstrate their knowledge of the principles of Duty to Care and will sign-post them to coach learning resources that can help them to adapt sessions safely; creating diverse and inclusive environments that help to increase the mental health and well-being of both them and their participants.

Coaches who complete the free Duty to Care Knowledge Check in each pillar will earn themselves a nationally recognised Duty to Care ‘Digital Badge’, which they can display with pride to show their commitment to great coaching.

The findings of Baroness Grey-Thompson’s Duty of Care in Sport review coincided with UK Coaching’s plan to devise a product that ensures coaches are sufficiently equipped to deliver great coaching – and thereby, inspire their participants to develop lifelong active lifestyles and ensure athletes’ welfare is at the top of their priority list.

Through the toolkit, coaches will be able to test their coaching know-how with free Knowledge Checks across the five pillars, as well as discover a suite of coach learning.