Lead and conclude activity sessions
Overview
This standard is about leading activity sessions, such as outdoor activity sessions, or recreational `taster' sessions for a particular sport or activity. These sessions could introduce people to a sport or activity, provide purposeful fun and enjoyable recreational activities, or provide progress in a particular sport or activity. They could help people to grow as individuals, by developing their social skills. These sessions could also meet certain curriculum requirements, such as the national curriculum or a curriculum designed by a National Governing Body of sport.
The main outcomes of this standard are:
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**1. prepare participants for sessions
2. lead and conclude sessions
This standard is for people who can lead sport, recreation or outdoor activity sessions with limited supervision, typically in a controlled environment.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
Prepare participants for sessions
follow legal requirements and your organisational policies and procedures throughout the sessions
explain the goals and content of the sessions to all p*articipants*
assess participants' readiness to take part in the sessions
Lead and conclude sessions
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deliver warm up activities linked with goals of the sessions to participants
provide explanations and demonstrations of the planned activities to participants
ensure participants' and others' safety is maintained throughout the sessions
check p*articipants* are following your instructions throughout the sessions
adapt your sessions to meet the individual needs of participants
respond to any new risks during the sessions in accordance with legal requirements and your organisational policies and procedures
refer any risks that you cannot address to the responsible person for the programme
provide participants with feedback throughout the sessions
take account of feedback received from participants
draw the sessions to a close, to suit participants
follow your organisational policies and procedures for recording the sessions
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
Prepare participants for sessions
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the requirements for health and safety, to include:
1.1 organisational policies, procedures and ethos for inclusivity
1.2 activities in the scope of the relevant National Governing Body
1.3 safety regulations and licensing requirements for relevant activities
the consequences of not checking and following your organisational code of practice
the plan for the sessions you are leading and its aims and objectives
**the impact that the activities you are leading could have on the environment and how to minimise this impact
how to find out about participants' previous experience
Lead and conclude sessions
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methods of warming up, linked to the goals of the session
communication techniques that can be used effectively with both individuals and groups to explain and demonstrate key points
how to provide opportunities for participants to ask questions
methods of assessing risks during the sessions and how to adapt your plans in response
the range of new risks that would cause adaptation of your plans to meet participants' needs
methods of providing feedback to participants to provide support and encouragement, without putting undue pressure on them
methods of obtaining feedback from your participants and how to use this constructively
activity leadership styles that can be used during the sessions
**the levels of supervision that are appropriate to different activities and types of participants
methods of drawing the activity to a close
organisational policies and procedures for recording the *sessions *
methods of working that encourages effective communication and interaction between participants
**types of discriminatory and other unacceptable behaviour that must be challenged and why
Scope/range
Scope Performance
Sessions (minimum of 2)
single session
series of sessions
series of progressive sessions
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Goals (minimum of 2)
fun and recreation
curriculum-based
personal and social development
encouraging future participation, adherence and or progress in the sport or activity
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Participants (minimum of 4)
adults
children and young people
individuals with particular needs
new with no experience
those with some experience
groups
individuals
Feedback (minimum of 4)
verbal
non-verbal
constructive
positive
managing unacceptable behaviour
checking the participants' understanding
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Scope Knowledge
Activity leadership styles
authoritarian
democratic
laissez-faire
Values
The following key values underpin the delivery of services within activity leadership and will help activity leaders to have their intended impact on the participants.
Activity Leaders should:
nurture and develop an environment that promotes participation, manages risk, and stimulates challenge, enjoyment, confidence, self-esteem and above all achievement
advocate the need for participants to remain at the centre of the activity, throughout their leadership duties
maintain integrity in all their actions
promote positive behaviour in a fair, consistent, inclusive, ethical and effective manner
embrace diversity and inclusion to enable involvement of participants with particular needs and of various abilities
Behaviours
The following behaviours underpin the delivery of services within activity leadership. These behaviours ensure that participants receive a positive impression of both the organisation and the individual
Activity Leaders should:
- observe respect and be tolerant towards all participants and others involved, such as parents, staff and other leaders
- act as a role model by maintaining the highest standards of personal conduct
- implement and practice by example ground rules for behaviour during the session and or programme
- be empathetic to participants’ needs and requirements
- observe the boundaries to maintain and develop a rapport with participants
- respect the roles of support personnel, such as care workers, first aiders, lifeguards, or buddies and know when to refer issues to these specialists
Skills
The following skills underpin the delivery of services within activity leadership and will help activity leaders to have their intended impact on the participants.
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Activity Leaders should:
- influence participants to take care of and appreciate the value of equipment being used
- have a systematic approach to preparing, leading, reviewing and evaluating for activities
- understand when confidentiality is to be maintained and when it cannot be guaranteed
- reflect on their own practice and always seek ways to improve their ability
- be able to ‘think outside the box’ and develop contingencies
- manage participants’ expectations
- be confident and resilient
- adapt activities to develop purposeful fun activities for participants
- have effective and efficient time management
- recognise barriers and solutions to participation
- instil peer to peer help and team work
- demonstrate diplomacy when challenging any behaviour and discriminatory issues
- empower and include participants within the session by delegating tasks
- empower participants to become ‘risk aware’ by involving them in practical risk assessment and decision-making
Glossary
Aims
Those that were set for the activity during the planning stage; a more senior colleague will usually have worked these out
Curriculum based
In an educational context, this may refer to the requirements of the national curriculum or requirements laid down by the national governing body of the sport or activity
Discriminatory and anti-social behaviour
Behaviour that is unfair, unjust, offensive, and sometimes unlawful, to individuals, for example, based on gender, age, sexual orientation, ability, ethnicity, culture, socioeconomic background, size, national origin, or religious beliefs
Encouraging future participation, adherence and or progress in the sport or activity
Giving the participants the opportunity to pursue the activity further at a later stage
Environment
The area in which the activity takes place; this could be an indoor facility or a natural outdoor environment
Individuals with particular needs
People for whom the session may be more than normally challenging, for example, people with medical conditions, people who are overweight, unusually shy or nervous, pregnant women; disabled participants, and people with diverse or cultural requirements
Participants
The people you are leading during the activity
Personal and social development
Enabling people to improve their own personal abilities in areas such as self-confidence, self-esteem, self-reliance, self-control and problem solving as well as their ability to work with and relate to other people
Proportionate level and or ratio of supervision
The level of supervision is usually ratio-based, however, best practice is also base it on proper consideration of both the activities to be undertaken and the level of the abilities of the participants involved
Recreation
Pleasurable, fun leisure experiences, often delivered in the context of an activity holiday or holiday scheme
Responsible person
The designated person; such as, a supervisor, duty officer, line manager, active duty instructor, programme leader. There are many terms that can be used to describe the role of the responsible person and it will vary according to your particular organisation
Session
A period during which you will lead participants in activities with some component of physical exertion and/or skill/problem solving; these activities may be recognised sports, such as canoeing, sailing, badminton or football or may be improvised to meet certain objectives. In the outdoor context, they will almost certainly involve a component of managed risk; activities may provide a 'taster' for a sport that encourages a participant to go on to develop their performance in an activity leadership context
Single session - this is a one off singular session
Series of sessions – this is more than one session. The timescale of the session will be determined by the individual sport or activity that is taking place
Series of progressive sessions – this is the same as a series of sessions, but it will be planned and delivered to progress the participant to a particular goal or achievement
Unacceptable behaviour
Behaviour that is dangerous or breaks the rules of behaviour for the activity in some other way – for example 'horse-play', vandalism, bullying, discriminatory behaviour, or other forms of anti-social behaviour
Young people
Generally means participants under the age of 18 years, however refer to your organisational policies