The Premier League

The Barclays Premier League is widely regarded as the elite club competition in football. It is owned by 20 shareholders – the member clubs, which have academies that develop footballers from a young age and nurture their talent, hopefully to become one of the football stars of the future. Premier League recruits up to 200 elite players, from the age of 16, onto their two-year Apprenticeship Programme.

The Premier League’s mission statement is to ‘Support our Academies to deliver the world’s leading Youth Development Programme’. Their aim is to provide apprentices with the fundamental basis to grow their talent and progress into the world of professional football.

The Premier League provides a flexible and supportive approach to education and training that can be tailored to the needs of individual clubs and apprentices. Professional football is extremely competitive, and inevitably there are some players that do not meet the standard required to gain a professional contract at their club.

For some, progress to a lower League Club is an option, whilst for others employment or further education and training are more realistic. Apprenticeships help individuals to, not only seek employment in their sector, but also to further their educational development and take the qualifications they have gained to the next level.

The Premier League is a fully accredited assessment centre, and can deliver all elements of the Advanced Level Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE). Since 2004, the Premier League has been delivering Edexcel qualifications as part of this framework.

The AASE framework includes qualifications for elite-level athletes in specific sports. It provides a flexible approach to theory, alongside a structured, sport-specific training and development programme. It encourages athletes to develop both their skills and their personal and academic talents – both vital characteristics needed for a career in sport. Each member club selects their own apprentices. This decision is based on football competency rather than academic ability, meaning there is a diverse range of candidates selected who benefit from an individual learning programme.

Some apprentices follow a specific programme of mentoring and personal development, which may include support for English as a foreign language. Apprentices without the equivalent of a GCSE Grade C in Maths and English will complete Key Skills in Communication and Application of Number, to ensure that they are supported with their essential, basic skills. Premier League have contextualized their Key Skills resources to help aid delivery and engage learners. To assist with numeracy development, Apprentices will study footballer’s salaries, and examine how they differ across varying clubs. Likewise, media footage is utilised to help develop communication skills.

The Premier League was recognised as an ‘outstanding’ education provider, following an Ofsted Inspection in September 2010 and have since been awarded the coveted Beacon Status by LSIS. They have seen both completion and progression rates increase significantly over the past five years. In the 2009-10 season, their completion rate was 93% - significantly above the national average and exceeding the set target of 87%. Some 71% of the League’s apprentices now go on to secure a contract with a professional club.

The Premier League’s Curriculum Manager, Julia Caunt commented how "the AASE framework gives apprentices the opportunity to study their game at the highest level whilst reflecting upon their continuous development. This supports the football development programme in the Clubs to give them the best possible opportunity to achieve their goal of becoming a professional footballer at a Premier League Club.

“We have found that the players are becoming more tuned into their own development and ways in which to improve their own performance to compete at the highest level. If they want to move on into university, the education credits that they have gained on the AASE programme will give them a good chance of progressing down this route.

“We have found Pearson to be approachable and helpful whenever we have required their support. Any issues with registrations have been quickly resolved by polite and courteous staff,” says Julia. “The Edexcel online system has been very useful and has removed the need for large amounts of paperwork, also helping with certification.”