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ARRANGEMENTS DOCUMENT

HIGHER NATIONAL DIPLOMA IN

SPORTS THERAPY (G7YF 16)

Date of original publication: August 2005

Version: 05 (December 2014)

HND IN SPORTS THERAPY

VALIDATED — JUNE 2005

Title of the Award

The title of the Group Award is: Higher National Diploma in Sports Therapy

1 Introduction

This Arrangements document supports the revised qualification in HND Sports Therapy. This

qualification replaces the existing HND Sports Therapy award and will be implemented from

August 2005.

The new HND Sports Therapy Group Award is designed to equip candidates with an interest

in Sports Therapy with the knowledge and skills to gain an industry recognised qualification.

The qualification may gain them direct access to employment or may assist progression into

further academic and/or professional studies. It is designed to build on National Units and/or

prior experience of the candidate who may have worked in the occupational area.

This document is designed to assist centres who wish to deliver the revised Group Award.

Contained within the document is background information relating to the development of the

award, identification of general and specific aims of the award, changes to structure and

content of the award and recommended delivery and assessment guidance.

2 Historical perspective

During the late 1980s and early 1990s the long established HN qualification was adopted by

the leisure, recreation and sports sectors. These new developing occupational sectors of leisure,

recreation and sports provision experienced a period of rapid, dynamic growth from the late

1980s. Performance sport and mass exercise participation had grown considerably over the last

10 years. The support services for these same participants had not developed to the same

extent. An increase in the activity level of the population increases the potential for injury and

thus physical rehabilitation.

The occupational title ‘Sports Therapist’ is a UK derived title which describes a professional

whose scope of practice includes the prevention, assessment, management and rehabilitation of

sport and exercise based injuries for all levels of sports performers.

The requirement to review the existing award provided the opportunity to reflect and gather

further empirical evidence on the fitness for purpose of this Group Award. Two main messages

emerged from this review. Firstly, that HN qualifications were well- used and highly respected

qualifications and, secondly, acceptance of the need to adjust these qualifications rather than

make radical changes to them.

3 Rationale for the revised qualification 3.1 Recruitment and delivery pattern

Applications for and enrolment on Sports Therapy courses has remained buoyant over the

lifespan of the current award and has attracted candidates from both traditional academic

routes as well as the more mature candidate with experiential or occupational sector skills.

Delivery pattern is predominantly full- time, with some ‘in fill’ and part-time opportunities

to the programme available, according to a candidate’s personal choice and individual

college resourcing issues. Candidate end destinations have settled into a pretty even split

between direct employment within the sector and progression to further academic study.

3.2 Discussion with the Health Professions

Currently the Health Professions Council (HPC) are engaged in discussions with a range of

stakeholders (including the SQA) with a view to drawing up national arrangements for the

rationalisation of education and training within this sector. This would provide some form

of ‘registration’ to protect the title and determine appropriate professional, personal and

ethical standards for this new profession. If discussions with the Health Professions Council

on the registration of Sports Therapy practitioners progresses favorably, the demand for

Sports Therapy professionals will increase dramatically in the next few years.

Thus, much of the original rational for the Group Award remains valid for the revised

award.

 to provide current best practice and underpinning knowledge to allow articulation with

evolving sector occupational skill developments

 to develop clinical and technical patient treatment skills to the current accepted

professional standards

 to provide opportunities for career planning and enhance the candidates’ employment

prospects and/or progression opportunities for further study

3.3 Stakeholder consultation

Stakeholder groups

The Sports Therapy client base includes both competitive sport and active leisure

participation and caters for a diverse range of needs across entire communities. A wide

range of stakeholders were consulted to test some of the original premises underpinning the

current award. Input from past students, employers and universities was sought about the

requirement to modify or update content or context of the current Group Award.

Occupational sector intelligence

Key Leisure Markets (2003) state that public interest in sport and fitness in the UK has

probably never been higher and that the industry has experienced steady growth in the past

twenty years, with most of that growth occurring in the private sector. Labour market

intelligence supplied by Sector Skills Councils (SSCs), in particular SkillsActive and Future

Skills Scotland (FSS), confirm the importance of sport to the Scottish economy but

emphasise the need to supply a targeted workforce for the sector as demanded by

employers.

4 Progression

It is anticipated that the new structure will provide a strong pathway of progression for

candidates:

 those who have successfully completed a programme of traditional school academic

studies or a cluster/s of National Qualification Units in a related area

 those candidates who wish to access Higher Education and

 those candidates who move directly into employment and continue their studies

through Continual Professional Updating (CPU) opportunities

The design of the awards offers articulation and progression with:

(a) Secondary Education, Further Education, Higher Education

 SQA National Units in appropriate subject areas at Higher level (Human

Physiology and Performance, Communication 4, Sporting Activity Units)

 SGAs at Higher level in appropriate subject areas (fitness/health)

(b) Further Education

 SQA National Units in appropriate subject areas at Higher level (Human

Physiology and Performance, Communication 4, Sporting Activity Units)

 SGAs at Higher level in appropriate subject areas (fitness/health)

 GCE ‘A’ levels in appropriate subjects (English, Biology, Sciences PE)

 SVQs at level 1/

5 Target client group

It is recognised that Sports Therapy attracts a wide range of applicants from different

backgrounds and experiences without formal qualifications and who may have

experienced social exclusion. The profile of an HN candidate is that of a more mature

candidate. (Centre for Research into Lifelong Learning, Caledonian University, Glasgow.)

Delivering centres are encouraged to support fully the requirement of social inclusion to

provide opportunities for applicants with non-traditional entry profiles. In such cases,

centres are encouraged to take into account experience, life skills and potential ability.

The award is designed to allow for this difference in level entry and experience.

6 Aims of Qualification

The HND award is designed to allow candidates with an interest in Sports Therapy to gain a

recognised qualification which in itself may gain them access to employment in the industry

or progress on to Higher Education. It is designed to build on National Units and/or prior

experience of the candidate who may have worked in the occupational area and to prepare

for employment or Higher Education on completion.

The aims of the HND Group Awards have been divided into general aims and subject-

related (specific) aims.

6.1 General aims

All HNDs have a range of broad aims that are generally applicable to all equivalent HE

qualifications eg:

1 Developing critical and evaluative thinking and ability to manage and

absorb large amounts of information.

2 Developing self directed learners.

3 Developing the ability to be flexible and to work co-operatively within a

team structure.

4 Developing transferable skills such as study and research skills, presentation

techniques, personal effectiveness.

5 Enabling progression within the SCQF including progression to HE.

6 Providing opportunities for career planning and enhancing candidates’

employment prospect.

7 Developing an individual’s Core Skills profiles.

6.2 Specific aims

The following additional specific aims will also be developed. These are:

1 The ability to analyse, plan and communicate solutions to sports injury

referrals.

2 The ability to problem solve and apply technical competencies in relation to

physical therapy programme prescription and management.

3 To provide current best practice and underpinning knowledge to allow

articulation with evolving sector occupational skill developments.

4 To develop clinical and technical patient treatment skills to the current

accepted professional standards.

The new qualifications will sustain the incremental progression through the range of

relevant qualifications now available from Intermediate 2 level to HND and beyond.

8 Structure of the award Framework for HND Sports Therapy Award — Year 1

(from 13.5 to 14.5 credits required)

Unit

Number

Unit Name Credit

Value

SCQF

Value

SCQF

level

DP62 34 Applied Anatomy 1.5^12

DP63 34 Applied Physiology 1.5 12 7

DN6C 33 Body Massage 2.0 16 6

DD30 34 First Aid for Sport 0.5^4

DP6D 34 Sports Injury Pathology 1.5 12 7

H4TC 34* Exercise Principles and Programming 2.0 16 7

DP61 34 Sports Rehabilitation Principles 0.5^4

DP69 35

H4Y2 34*

Professional Standards in Sports Therapy

(finishing 31/07/2015) OR

Sports Therapy: Professional Standards

H4TE 34* Health Screening 0.5 4 7

H71V 34* Sports Fitness and Return to Participation Criteria 0.5 4 7

H4TD 34* Flexibility Training 0.5 4 7

H71T 35* Psychology of Sports Injury 1.0 8 8

H4XP 34* Soft Tissue Therapy: Graded Unit 1 1.0^8

Framework for HND Sports Therapy Award — Year 2 (13.5 credits required)

Unit

Number

Unit Name Credit

Value

SCQF

Value

SCQF

level

A6T1 34 Workplace Experience 2.0^16

DP8D 35 Sports Massage Techniques 1.5 12 8

DP6E 34 Taping Techniques for Sports Injuries 1.0 8 7

H71M 35* Clinical Assessment of Sports Injuries 2.5^20

H71S 35* Plan and Deliver Exercise Based Sports

Rehabilitation

H71N 35* Electrotherapy 1.0 8 8

H71K 34* Biomechanics and Movement Patterns 1.0 8 7

H73A 35* Sports Therapy: Graded Unit 2 2.0^16

Framework for HND Sports Therapy Award — Options

(from 2.0 to 3.0 credits require d)

Unit

Number

Unit Name Credit

Value

SCQF

Value

SCQF

level

DP67 34 Nutrition for Sports Therapists 1.0 8 7

DP2K 35 Working as an Exercise and Fitness Professional

in Europe

DD2P 35 Research Investigation in Sport 1.0^8

DK2K 34* Getting Started in Business 1.0 8 7

FG69 33 IT in Business: Word Processing, Spreadsheets and

Databases: An Introduction

H4TM 34* Swimming Pool Lifeguard: Skills and Practice 1.0 8 7

*Refer to History of Changes for revision changes.

9 Credit transfer and transition interim arrangements

Some candidates may wish to transfer from the old (1988) design rules first part of the

HND into an HND validated using the 2003 design principles.

Candidates transferring from an existing 120 SCQF credit points first year HND to a new

HND must have the full 240 credits for the HND but need only have 16 SCQF credit points

of Graded Unit(s) at SCQF level 8. All other conditions of award for the new HND must be

met, ie:

 224 SCQF credit points at the levels required

 achieving the recommended Core Skills exit profile

Although, in principle, candidates can be given credit transfer, specific credit transfer must

be given on a Unit by Unit basis. Credit transfer can only be given where the level of

demand on the candidate is the same.

Credit transfer can be given where there is broad equivalence between the subject related

content of Units, ie the knowledge and skills have not changed significantly.

Any such credit transfer arrangements must be approved by the external moderator. This

alternative route is only made available to candidates using credit transfer and

should not be offered to new candidates. These transitional arrangements are expected

to last no more than four years.

The following table illustrates how credit transfer will operate for the HND Sports Therapy.

Broad equivalencies can be mapped between the following Units.

Summary

In summary, the credit transfer route is made up as follows:

 88 SCQF credit points via credit transfer

 24 SCQF credit points normal study of Units Stretch Training, Professional Standards

for Sports Therapy and Psychology of Injury

 104 SCQF credit points — all year 2 Units

 16 SCQF credit points of Graded Unit(s) at SCQF level 8

 8 SCQF credit points — optional Unit

 recommended Core Skills exit profile

The above route to the award can only be taken by candidates transferring from the old HND

into the new HND.

10 Graded Unit

To gain the HND Group Award, candidates must pass all the mandatory Unit assessments,

including the internally assessed Graded Units. Both Graded Units on the HND are project

based — a one credit Practical Assignment in year one and a two credit Investigation in year

two.

The Graded Units assess the knowledge and skills at the level of the Group Award. Achieving

targets and effective time and resource management are attributes essential to success in Sports

Therapy. Critical, analytical thinking and on-going evaluation of professional developments

are also essential. The ability to calculate and work with relevant data and to interpret

numerical and graphical information is part of providing clinical based treatment. The

stakeholder market research reinforces the centre’s delivery view that these are the types of

occupational competencies required by a Sports Therapist.

A project based approach to the Graded Units better reflects the process based and applied skill

requirements in this vocational area. Project based Graded Units test the application of

knowledge and skills required to plan, carry out and evaluate a task in which the candidate does

significant work without supervision.

The year 1 Graded Unit is a practical assignment to test and reinforce the application of

practical skills, knowledge and understanding to a situation that involves task management. The

assessment is based on a combination of the end result of the activity (the product or

performance) and the carrying out of the activity (the process).

The year 2 Graded Unit is an investigation to test and reinforce skills in gathering and

interpreting information, analysing, decision making and action planning.

11 Core Skills development

New research activities undertaken for the review of the HND in Sports Therapy suggests that

employers and Higher Education recognise a range of key skills as critical for workers in this

vocational area. Practitioner skills and professional and personal qualities which enable and

enhance communication with a wide range of people and settings ranked highly in stakeholder

feedback. The new market research exercise demonstrated conclusively the value of Core Skills

in this vocational award, but not to the extent of stand alone, certificated Core Skills Units at

the expense of mandatory content. A common response from the market research was the

recognition of the presence of most of the Core Skills within the unitised design of the Group

Award.

Signposting refers to the identification of opportunities for developing Core Skills or

components that lie outwith those that can be summatively assessed and certificated. This

allows the range of opportunities to develop Core Skills through teaching and learning to be

utilised and highlights these opportunities to those delivering and managing the Units. Core

Skills are developed ‘naturally’ and contextualised, but the candidate does not receive formal

certification of attainment.

These findings led the QDT to suggest the following entry and exit Core Skills profiles for the

award.

Core Skills entry and exit profiles for the HND Sports Therapy Group Award

Core Skill Entry Core Skills level Exit Core Skills level

Communication 5 6

IT 5 5

Problem Solving 5 6

Working with Others 5 6

Numeracy 5 6

A more detailed grid containing Core Skills mapped to Units on the award can be found in

Appendix 1.

Approaches to delivery and assessment

It is expected that all Units will be applied in the context of Sports Therapy.

A holistic approach should be implemented in the delivery and assessment of all practical

Units. Centres must manage this to allow candidates to overtake the Outcomes for individual

Units and meet all the requirements. For example, the Units covering Sports Therapy skills

could be integrated but the assessments that take place in the practical context must be clearly

identified as ‘belonging to’ the individual Units. The management of this is the responsibility

of the centre. The evidence gathered must be available for moderation.

Individual Units contain advice regarding the knowledge and skills a candidate may require to

benefit from the Unit. This information may influence a centre regarding the order of delivery of

Units and the timing of the Graded Unit assessment.

Year 1 and 2 Unit delivery exemplars

Year 2 Unit delivery exemplar

The tables above show the inter-relationship of Units within the first and second year programme. It

also provides an overview of progression through the Units some of which may be delivered in

parallel. The Units are delivered in a logical progressive order which enable candidates to build upon

essential knowledge and skills.

Applied Anatomy/Applied Physiology

Exercise Principles and

Programming

Health Screening

First Aid for Sport Sports Injury Pathology

Sports Rehabilitation

Principles

Body Massage

Clinical Assessment

of Sports Injuries

Taping Techniques for

Sports Injuries

Plan and Delivery

Exercise Based Sports

Rehabilitation

Sports Massage Electrotherapy

Workplace Experience Biomechanics and

Movement Patterns

13 Assessment

Assessment moderation

All instruments of assessment in use (including those used for re-assessment) should be

internally moderated following centre specific policy on assessment and SQA guidelines. This

will ensure the validity and reliability of assessments used within the centre.

Prior moderation of Unit assessments

Currently SQA offers a free service to moderate assessment exemplars. Whilst it is not

mandatory prior moderation is undertaken, it is strongly recommended that centres take

advantage of this service especially if delivering under the new design principles for the first

time.

Re-assessment

Candidates who have not satisfactorily attained all of the evidence required under the

knowledge and skills section may be considered for re-assessment. The way centres manage re-

assessment opportunities is centre specific, but clear guidelines should be in place to add rigour

and authenticity to this process, especially if open learning features as an assessment method.

When sampling is used, candidates should not be able to deduce the content of any re-

assessment.

Re-assessment of Graded Units

Re-assessment of a project based Graded Unit requires an alternative project brief. The

Conditions of Assessment section on the Graded Unit specification and the assessment

exemplar gives additional guidance.

Guidance on the format and style of Unit specifications

The majority of Unit specifications in this Group Award use the new specifications format. All

such Units have been levelled in relation to SCQF guidelines. Where a Unit in a previous format

is in use, the merit statements should not be applied if the Unit is being used in the new

framework context. These Units will be replaced with revised updated Unit specifications when

they are revised as part of the ‘originating’ award for which they were developed.

Open learning

Theoretical aspects of some Units are appropriate for open or distance learning. However, due

to the very practical and applied nature of the skills of a Sports Therapy practitioner, practical

classes and assessment opportunities require attendance within a clinical, supervised

environment. Each Unit specification contains details regarding open learning suggestions.

Where open learning opportunities are available, each centre must put in place measures to

ensure the authenticity of the candidate’s work.

General information for Candidates History of changes

Version

number

Description Date

05 Revision of Unit : DK2K 34 Getting Started in Business^ has been

revised by H7V4 34 Preparing to Start a Business and will finish on 31/07/2016.

04 Revision to Units : F4NX 35 Sports Therapy: Graded Unit 2 revised

by H73A 35. DP64 34 Biomechanics and Movement Pattern s

revised by H71K 34. DP65 35 Clinical Assessment of Sports

Injuries revised by H71M 35. DP66 35 Electrotherapy revised by

H71N 35. DP68 35 Plan and Deliver Exercise Based Sports

Rehabilitation revised by H71S 35. DP6A 35 Psychology of Sports

Injury revised by H71T 35. DP6C 34 Sports Fitness and Return to

Participation Criteria revised by H71V 34. Finishing 31/07/2016.

03 DP69 35 Professional Standards for Sports Therapy revised to

H4Y2 34 Sports Therapy Professional Standards. F4NY 34 Sports

Therapy: Graded Unit 1 revised to H4XP 34 Soft Tissue Therapy:

Graded Unit 1.Old Units will finish on 31/07/15.

02 Revision of Unit: DP8E 34 Exercise Principles and Programming

has been revised by H4TC 34.DP2F 34, Stretch Training has been

revised by H4TD 34 (Flexibility Training). DP2L 34 Health

Screening has been revised by H4TE 34. DP2J 34 Swimming Pool

Lifeguard: Skills and Practice has been revised by H4TM 34. Each

of the old units will finish on 31/07/2013.

Appendix 1: Core Skills signposting document Communication (SCQF level 6)

Skill component: Oral Communication

Produce and respond to Oral Communication on a complex topic

(a) Use vocabulary and a range of spoken language structures consistently and effectively with appropriate formality

(b) Convey all essential ideas/information/opinions accurately and coherently with appropriate varied emphasis

(c) Structure to take full account of purpose and audience

(d) Take account of situation and audience during delivery

(e) Respond to others taking account of their contribution

Unit Knowledge/Skills/Evidence Developed/Assessed a b c d e

Sports Rehabilitation Principles Outcome 3 : Practical performance in consultation prior to, and during treatment will involve oral explanation, support and advice to clients. Developed (^) √ √ √ √ √ Sports Injury Pathology Outcome 3: Consultations with client involving discussion, negotiation and agreement on injury treatment. Developed (^) √ √ √ √ √ First Aid for Sport First aid will require listening and responding skills, including careful questioning to ascertain and address first aid treatment needs. Developed (^) √ √ √ √ √ Body Massage Consultations with client involving discussion, negotiation and agreement on treatment appropriate to health and lifestyle. Verbal and non-verbal communication interactive skills. Evaluation of all aspects of treatment. Developed (^) √ √ √ √ √