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Why choose the School of Sport Science and Physical Activity
Our sports courses rank 1st for student/staff ratio (Guardian, 2024).
Our sports science courses rank in the UK top 15 in their subject field (Daily Mail university rankings, 2024).
Over 95% of our full-time UK graduates are in employment and/or further study, 15 months after graduating (Source: HESA Graduate Outcomes data for 2020/21, pub 2023).
About the course
This course aims to give you the knowledge and skills you need to pursue a wide range of career pathways within the sports, health and physical activity employment sectors. You will develop your coaching, management and leadership skills, putting you in a position to transform lives and communities through sport and physical activity. Sports Coaching and Development students gain valuable work-based experiences within coaching, project management, and community sport through their involvement with Bedford Blues Foundation and UoB Aspire Outreach programmes.
Course accreditation / industry endorsement
We increase the employability of our graduates by being a Higher Education Partner of the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA).
Facilities and specialist equipment
- State-of-the-art sports therapy and rehabilitation centre with a sports injury clinic, open to staff, students and external athletes/clients
- Up-to-the-minute sports analysis equipment, such as the Catapult GPS tracking and Nacsport camera systems, allows you to measure and evaluate the performances of players and teams
- Human Performance Centre
- On-site community exercise clinic
- Sports massage rooms
- Purpose-built strength and conditioning facility
- Free gym and Olympic weight room
- Sports arena; Alexander Sport Centre; multi-use games areas and other external 4G sports pitches.
Industry links
We are the official Education Partners of Luton Town FC and Bedford Blues RFC Foundation, giving you opportunities to put your knowledge and skills into practice.
Students gain valuable work-based experiences within coaching, project management, and community sport through their involvement with the Bedford Blues Foundation.
Your student experience
- Enhance your learning and build your experience through field trips to destinations such as St George’s Park, Burton-upon-Trent, the home of England Football; Northampton Saints physio centre; and Club La Santa in Lanzarote.
- Develop your professional network though our links with Sport England, governing bodies, active partnerships and industry experts.
- Collaborate with our partners to deliver school and community-based projects.
- Learn through a variety of methods including outdoor and adventure education
- Hear from guest speakers who attend our ISPAR seminar series. Previous speakers have included Tom Bromley (MK Dons); Jack Wells (PGA); Akash Modhwadia (Strength and conditioning coach at MK Dons); Marsha Brierley (Behaviour Change Practitioner at Buckinghamshire Public Health).
- Benefit from the support of your own personal academic tutor who will guide and support you throughout your student journey.
- Our Bedford campus is a small, thriving academic community where academic staff get to know you well.
*Disclaimer: we can not guarantee this trip will take place every year or that every student will be offered a place on the internship.
- Drop-out in academy football and mental wellbeing
- Youth development through combat sports
- Body image among female and male gym users
- On-line gambling among sports fans
- Race, racism and sports coaching
- Talent Identification practices within elite youth women’s football.
- Women’s experiences in senior sport leadership
- Participation among Muslim Girls in PE
- Social inclusion within golf members clubs
- Trauma informed practice in physical education
- Goal setting in solitary sports
with Professional Practice Year
This course has the option to be taken over four years which includes a year placement in industry. Undertaking a year in industry has many benefits. You gain practical experience and build your CV, as well as being a great opportunity to sample a profession and network with potential future employers.
There is no tuition fee for the placement year enabling you to gain an extra year of experience for free.
*Only available to UK/EU students.
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with Foundation Year
A Degree with a Foundation Year gives you guaranteed entry to an Undergraduate course.
Whether you’re returning to learning and require additional help and support to up-skill, or if you didn’t quite meet the grades to pursue an Undergraduate course, our Degrees with Foundation Year provide a fantastic entry route for you to work towards a degree level qualification.
With our guidance and support you’ll get up to speed within one year, and will be ready to seamlessly progress on to undergraduate study at Bedfordshire.
The Foundation Year provides an opportunity to build up your academic writing skills and numeracy, and will also cover a range of subject specific content to fully prepare you for entry to an Undergraduate degree.
This is an integrated four-year degree, with the foundation year as a key part of the course. You will need to successfully complete the Foundation Year to progress on to the first year of your bachelor’s degree.
Why study a degree with a Foundation Year?
- Broad-based yet enough depth to give you credible vocational skills
- Coverage of a variety of areas typically delivered by an expert in this area
- Gain an understanding of a subject before choosing which route you wish to specialise in
- Great introduction to further study, and guaranteed progression on to one of our Undergraduate degrees
The degrees offering a Foundation Year provide excellent preparation for your future studies.
During your Foundation Year you will get the opportunity to talk to tutors about your degree study and future career aspirations, and receive guidance on the most appropriate Undergraduate course to help you achieve this; providing you meet the entry requirements and pass the Foundation Year.
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Course Leader - Dr Alex Stewart
Having conducted a five-year 'insider' ethnographic study of amateur and professional boxing in England, my central research interests now lie in the examination of cultural and social aspects of the sporting experience. Reciprocally my academic interests and teaching competences take in the following related areas: the socialisation process into and through sport; sport violence, Ìýembodiment and identity formation; sporting subcultures; and sport for change in relation to youth development; crime reduction and education. In a previous life I spent my time split between boxing competitively as an amateur and briefly a professional boxer and backpacking and working my way around the globe.
Course Leader - Dr Alex Stewart
Having conducted a five-year 'insider' ethnographic study of amateur and professional boxing in England, my central research interests now lie in the examination of cultural and social aspects of the sporting experience. Reciprocally my academic interests and teaching competences take in the following related areas: the socialisation process into and through sport; sport violence, Ìýembodiment and identity formation; sporting subcultures; and sport for change in relation to youth development; crime reduction and education. In a previous life I spent my time split between boxing competitively as an amateur and briefly a professional boxer and backpacking and working my way around the globe.
What will you study?
Studying our Sports Coaching and Development BA (Hons) course aims to equip you with in-depth knowledge and skills around coaching, development and management of sport and physical activity. By combining sport coaching and development practice, cultural studies and social psychology, you will explore a range of Contemporary Issues and Social Practices in Sports and Physical Activity. Furthermore, you will critically examine contemporary issues in sport coaching in our Critical Pedagogies for Sports Coaching unit to improve the wellbeing and performance of a wide range of participants through empowerment. Our unit in the Foundations in Sport Coaching Pedagogy will support you with this by introducing you to coaching pedagogy in a range of contexts, from examining UK policy of sport provision and how to develop positive learning environments for people.
You will then have the opportunity to actively participate in a community sport project or activity in our Sport and Development: Working in Communities unit. To develop your understanding of the role of sport and physical activity in diverse communities, you will examine current approaches in sport development delivery and realise the opportunities available in community sport settings. You will learn to further support individuals by studying how physical literacy can be used to develop health and wellbeing in a range of sports contexts as part of our Coaching to Promote Health and Wellbeing in Sport and Physical Activity. To support you with this, our unit in Critical Insight into Sport and Development will broaden your understanding of the significance of sport in society. In areas of the mind, you will be given an Introduction to Sport and Exercise Psychology and how it contributes to performance enhancement and athlete wellbeing. Similarly, you will examine key theories and concepts in Sport, Physical Activity and Social Inclusion centred around gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity and disability. Furthermore, you will analyse the Psychology of Physical Activity, how it affects participation and psychological wellbeing.
The course also offers a range of optional units such as exploring how sport culture is connected to various forms of inequality in our Sport and Social Justice: Leadership for Change; learn to establish a sport and physical activity enterprises in our Running a Business unit; or examine physical culture in our Narratives of Body and Health unit. Finally, you will have the opportunity to complete a Dissertation for Sport and Physical Activity where you will identify a key issue relevant to your study and examine it using the skills and knowledge gained from your academic study. To help you with this, our units in Dissertation Preparation, Research Methods for Sport, and Physical Activity, and an Introduction to Research Methods will support you in reading and understanding research, and to complete a proposal with ethical documentation. Moreover, you may complete a Work Placement Project that will allow you to undertake work experience in the field that can be used to develop reflective practice, critical evaluation and work-based skills.
To prepare you for your career, our Introduction to Academic Study and Personal Development Planning in Sports Coaching and Development unit will support your academic growth and develop your skills and personal competencies for the professional demands of the sports coaching and development employment sector. Similarly, the Working in Sport unit will introduce you to multiple career pathways available within the sport & physical activity industry. Furthermore, you will be provided with skills for the job application and interview process in our Professional Development and Employability unit. In addition, you will engage in project management to design a school or community-based intervention based on your knowledge of government policy, partnership and grant applications in our Professional Development (Sport Policy and Enactment) unit. Furthermore, you can undertake our Work Experience for Sport Science and Coaching unit that will allow you to enhance your academic and professional skills in a sport science and/or coaching environment.
How will you be assessed?
You will be required to undertake a variety of assessment approaches that vary depending upon the learning outcomes of the unit delivered. The range of assessment styles includes: practical demonstrations essay narrative and report writing written reviews of relevant literature oral presentations phase-tests portfolios poster-presentations reflective blogs case study analysis project management evaluations media content analysis auto-ethnographies fieldwork and qualitative and quantitative data-analysis.
This comprehensive approach to assessment aims to develop your subject knowledge practical competencies reflective and critical thinking communication and collaborative skills digital and information skills problem solving and time management which are all needed in professions related to the sports coaching and development sector. Assessment of these activities will be based on tasks which develop vocational skills underpinned by subject knowledge requiring higher levels of cognition in the upper levels of the course.
As you progress through the levels of study the marking criteria for all assessment styles undertaken will be that much more rigorous with the expectation you progressively demonstrate a more theory driven understanding of sports coaching and development issues and practices and the sport sector agenda for achieving desired development outcomes.
Careers
Our graduates have been successful in gaining employment within a wide range of sport-sector areas including: community local authority and sport governing-body sport-development teams; professional sport clubs; coaching enterprises; international sport development; project and event management; health and fitness management; teaching in schools further education colleges and universities; and social and community leadership roles.
Students have also developed their own sport-sector businesses or gained employment within a range of non-sport-sector fields including the youth development and social services; the Forestry Commission; retail; and the uniformed services.
Students on this course have gone on to study a variety of postgraduate courses with us including PGCE in Secondary Physical Education or Primary Education; MA in Sport and Physical Activity or MBA in Sport Leadership and Management.
Entry Requirements
Entry Requirements
Fees for this course
UK
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £9,250 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees. You can also apply for a maintenance loan from the Government to help cover your living costs. See
Excellence Scholarships
Worth £2,500 per year of study over three years when you score a defined number of UCAS tariff points from specified qualifications*
» If you don’t qualify for an Excellence Scholarship but have 120 UCAS tariff points, you have enough points for one of our Achievement Scholarships offering £500 per year of study**
» Other scholarships, bursaries and financial support packages are available
* Points requirements vary depending on type of qualification.
** Threshold is 120 UCAS tariff points across all awarding bodies and qualifications.
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International
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the academic year 2025/26 is £16,900 per year.
There are range of Scholarships available to help support you through your studies with us.
A full list of scholarships can be found here.
Fees for this course
UK
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £9,250 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees. You can also apply for a maintenance loan from the Government to help cover your living costs. See
Excellence Scholarships
Worth £2,500 per year of study over three years when you score a defined number of UCAS tariff points from specified qualifications*
» If you don’t qualify for an Excellence Scholarship but have 120 UCAS tariff points, you have enough points for one of our Achievement Scholarships offering £500 per year of study**
» Other scholarships, bursaries and financial support packages are available
* Points requirements vary depending on type of qualification.
** Threshold is 120 UCAS tariff points across all awarding bodies and qualifications.
Ìý
International
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the academic year 2025/26 is £16,900 per year.
There are range of Scholarships available to help support you through your studies with us.
A full list of scholarships can be found here.
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