New pilot puts a female focus into Further Education

A new pilot with The Well HQ promises to enhance the knowledge and confidence of FE staff around female health to enable them to effectively teach and engage in valuable conversations with your sport and physical activity learners.

We are delighted to announce the launch of a new pilot with our Education Partners, The Well HQ. As part of this, tutors from an FE college setting, will participate in a new course which will help them enhance their teaching and delivery and help their learners to better understand the female body.

By participating, learners will receive evidence-based training from the specialists at The Well HQ around female health, and practical advice to apply this to education delivery in a FE setting.

This is a vital course for anyone delivering learning or teaching to students who will be moving into roles where they will be working with women and girls. It will also be beneficial for those in non-teaching roles who support women and girls in a FE setting.

The course will also discuss myths, challenges and strategies to support females engaging in physical activity.

The ‘Female Body Course’, created by The Well HQ, is evidence-based, and provides knowledge and practical actions across a wide range of women’s health topics in sport, from menstrual cycles in sport, to fitness kit for female bodies.  

This course is about the female body, but not exclusively for women. It is targeted at anyone working with women to better understand the female mind and body, and tackles difficult subjects such as common myths, taboos, and challenges, as well as strategies to support young women engaging in physical activity.  FOr those whose work includes supporting women and girls, or you are teaching others who will go on to work with women and girls, then this course provides invaluable tools and knowledge that learners can use to enhance their professional understanding and delivery.

Baz Moffat, CEO at The Well HQ commented: “The Loughborough Pilot Project feels huge - it’s designed to train the tutor in Further Education to educate students about female health in sport and fitness.

“How great will it be for those who are going to be the teachers, coaches and trainers of the future to be taught from the start about female health, as a normal part of their education as opposed to an afterthought.. This project has serious potential to shift the dial and have a huge impact on the experience of girls and women in sport and exercise. I can’t wait to get started.”

Natasha Eason, Head of Education, at CIMSPA said: “It is great that we can utilise our partner’s expertise to facilitate development and enhance the knowledge and confidence of college staff, to better understand the needs of female learners.

“Further Education plays a pivotal role in developing the sport and physical activity professionals of the future. At CIMSPA we want to make sure that all professionals delivering sport and physical activity learning in these settings have the knowledge and skills they need to help create safe and encouraging environments for women and girls to engage in physical activity, now and into the future. This will help to further increase participation and help to stop the potential drop-off of young women engaging with sport and physical activity.

“This will hopefully be just the first in a long list of training opportunities within further education settings, and this pilot is a great opportunity to raise awareness around the health and wellbeing of women and girls and seed change in the delivery of sport and physical activity learning in education settings everywhere.”

The course will be a mix of blended learning to make sure that everyone can have the opportunity to participate flexibly. The first sessions will start in January 2024, and will last for 16 weeks. Look out for updates on the progress of the course on the CIMSPA website.

To apply to take part in the free pilot (for tutors from an FE college setting), please complete this application form and a member of the CIMSPA team will be in contact to discuss this further with you.