Active IQ embarks on three-year partnership with The Association of Colleges

@Active__IQ, the the UK’s leading @Ofqual-recognised Awarding Organisation for the Physical Activity sector, has launched a three-year partnership with The Association of Colleges (@AoC_info). The partnership will see the two organisations working closely together to support and upskill learners and staff alike.

Active IQ is also hoping to learn more from the colleges and students about new and additional services and resources they would find valuable and useful, especially in light of changes brought about by the pandemic and lockdown.

All students across AoC member colleges will gain unique access to Active IQ’s Skills Hub, offering students an unrivalled resource of free CPD courses and bespoke webinars  in a variety of subject areas such as marketing and communications. Over the next three years, Active IQ will work on a number of different campaigns with both the AoC and AoC Sport including:

The FA Women’s Football Apprenticeship programme

A partnership with The English Colleges Football Association, the football delivery arm of AoC Sport, to upskill a diverse range of female leaders.

The FA Women’s Football Apprenticeship programme will benefit from this partnership as existing and prospective apprentices (activators) will have access to the Active IQ Skills Hub.  Furthermore, Active IQ has developed a number of mental health resources which will be available to apprentices and activators.

In addition, Active IQ will be offering its End-Point Assessment services for any colleges employing a women’s football apprentice or others on the Level 3 Community Sport & Health Officer standard.

Mental Health Awareness

Active IQ will support the AoC in its annual Mental Health Awareness Week campaign. In the run up to the campaign Active IQ will sponsor and chair a series of webinars designed to help college staff engage with their students around their mental health and wellbeing. The first session focused on preparing colleagues to give support to students who may be feeling suicidal. They were given practical advice on preventative measures and how to spot the signs early. The next two will focus on social prescribing for mental health (25 March) and the third will focus on trauma (22 April). All three sessions will give staff additional advice and tools to help their community.  Active IQ has great experience within mental health, having launched its dedicated mental health qualification back in 2018. It will now seek to support the AoC on this area, using its expertise.

AoC Sport Leadership Academy

Active IQ has also become a new AoC Sport Leadership Academy Training Partner. This means that college students will have more training opportunities than ever before with access to its extensive materials and resources, which will provide new opportunities for students’ personal and professional development. The partnership comes in a year in which a record 100 colleges have signed up to the Leadership Academy. More than 750 students across the volunteering programmes will benefit from the new partnership, including more than 400 students already recruited for the 2020/21 Ambassador programmes.

Fitness Trainer Competition

Over the last six years Active IQ has been heavily involved in the Fitness Trainer Competition and will continue its support by sponsoring this once again and joining the judging panel process. 

“We have great respect for the work being done by the AoC and welcome the opportunity to partner with them and align much more closely over the three years,” says Jenny Patrickson, Managing Director for Active IQ.

“This partnership will enable us to engage more broadly with both colleges and learners, shaping our services to their wants and needs. We know from experience that rich resources and generous support enhance and elevate the learning process for students while skills-related materials help learners appreciate the relevance and context of their vocational training.”

“We at AoC are absolutely delighted to be working in partnership with Active IQ across a range of projects and programmes,” said Dean Hardman, AoC Director of Sport and Student Experience. “The development of a broad variety of skills will be more important than ever in the post-COVID world and we are certain that the skills hub and the other resources provided by Active IQ will greatly benefit a large number of students across our member colleges.”

Richard Caulfield, AoC Area Director and National Lead for Mental Health added;

“Colleges continue to work hard on supporting the mental health and wellbeing of all their students, the support of Active IQ will help us to develop our work further in supporting colleges and reach a wider audience.”