Become a CIMSPA Further Education Partner 

Be responsive to your local employers’ needs, enhance the reputation of your further education college and the employability of your sport and physical activity sector-related students by partnering with the sector’s only chartered professional body.  

Ensure your curriculum offer meets the priorities and needs of your local sport and physical activity workforce.

We are inviting further education colleges to partner with CIMSPA to upskill our existing and future workforce locally to meet the demands of an ever-changing sport and physical activity sector.

As a CIMSPA further education partner, we will support you to ensure your curriculum offer aligns with and meets the priorities and needs of your local sport and physical activity workforce and its employers.  

CIMSPA further education partners are part of our sector-wide engagement involving over 450 employer, training provider, higher education and awarding organisation partners.

CIMSPA further education partners represent the sport and physical activity sector’s leading general further education colleges and sixth form colleges. The partnership represents a commitment from further education colleges to equip students with in-demand skills and knowledge, in line with local employer needs. It supports students to effectively transition into careers in sport and physical activity by aligning their education with our employer-led professional standards.

Together we can develop and shape a curriculum offer that helps your institution become more employer responsive, providing opportunities to retrain, upskill and equip learners with the knowledge, skills and experience needed to be deployed successfully into the sport and physical activity sector.  

Education and curriculum benefits

• Employer engagement – facilitated introductions to local CIMSPA employer partners, plus information on work placements, volunteering opportunities and internships.
• Curriculum insight – access to the sport and physical activity sector insight and intelligence to inform your curriculum offer.
• Professional recognition gateway for your learners – discounted membership to the sector’s chartered institute for students studying a CIMSPA-endorsed qualification.
• Careers guidance – access to a suite of bespoke educational resources, including the careers guidance course, designed to enhance awareness of careers in the sector, both locally and nationally.
• Network and collaborate – opportunity to attend regular tailored webinars/ forums to share practice and network.
• Quality assurance – CIMSPA’s quality assurance is exclusively reserved for CIMSPA partners. CIMSPA will conduct regular QA activity with your organisation in accordance with our quality assurance strategy (more detail below).
• Local skills engagement – access and opportunity to contribute to the local skills accountability board and local skills improvement plan in your area.
• Professional standards engagement – participate in the professional standards consultation process. This will provide your organisation with the opportunity to contribute to the development of the sector’s employer-led professional standards.
• CIMSPA endorsement – opportunity to gain endorsement for your CPD and bespoke study programmes by the chartered institute recognised by major employers in the sector.

Recognition and promotional benefits

• CIMSPA education partner logo – use of this logo to promote your official partnership with the sport and physical sector’s single chartered professional body.
• CIMSPA education partner quality assurance logo – use of this logo to highlight the quality of your education provision.
• Magazine subscription – Access to S&PA Professional – our quarterly membership and partnership magazine.
• Email bulletin updates – updating partners on opportunities to engage with both our work and the wider sector.
• Media profile and recognition – CIMSPA will celebrate further education partners and the contribution they are making to the sector across our website and social media platforms.
• CIMSPA membership discount – for your staff. 

Our next-generation quality assurance for education partners

CIMSPA has already implemented the sector’s first education and training quality assurance system. We are now rolling out the second generation of sector education provision quality assurance.

Every CIMSPA education partner will be given a one-to-three-star rating of their training provision. For our further education partners, this rating will be additional to, and independent of, their Ofsted rating.

Partners will benefit from the trust that the CIMSPA brand has earned as THE guardian of education, training, and professional standards in our world – employers and individuals will understand the quality of your education provision and its positive learner outcomes by default.

This enhanced quality assurance system will drive professional recognition – ensuring the best learning is being delivered in the most efficient way.

Further education partners will be entitled to use the official CIMSPA education partner quality assurance logo on their marketing materials.