Exam Board – Edexcel

Qualification – BTEC Level 3 Extended Certificate

Entry requirements – GCSE grade 4 in PE or a pass in Level 2
sport, grade 4s in English, maths and science.

Course specification

The sport and fitness industry is exciting and dynamic, and needs leaders and resilient team players at its helm.

This course will prepare you for a career in this ever-changing field, giving you an in-depth knowledge of the sports industry and drawing on links to sociology, psychology and biology for a well-rounded approach to learning. It will equip you with the right blend of technical and academic skills that you will need to become the high-achieving, skilled individual that employers and universities look for.

Delivered over six lessons per week, students are encouraged – through a range of teaching techniques – to develop responsibility for their own learning. All students are provided with specialist kit which enables them to access all practical lessons. The delivery of the course is split between staff from the physical education faculty. This provides students with a range of teaching methods and styles and thus creating a rounded approach to the whole course.

“BTEC sport is a really useful subject and can open many doors. It is not all about doing exercise either, it covers things like diet, coaching as well as lots of physiology and how the body works.”

– Student

Students are also given the opportunity to take part in extracurricular events and leadership courses which further enhance their standing within the academy. It is expected that BTEC sport students will flourish in such environments.

BTEC sport is the study of numerous units which link directly to the many areas which make up sport. The BTEC course offers students a different way of learning in a refreshing and  stimulating environment.

Across the two-year course students will study 4 units consisting of 360 guided learning hours, equivalent to one A Level. Two of these units are mandatory, meaning students will study them during the first year of the course:

  • unit 1 anatomy & physiology
  • unit 2 fitness training & programming

In addition to these units of work students must also complete two further units:

  • unit 3 professional development in the sports industry
  • unit 4 sports leadership

What doors will this open up for me?

BTEC sport is now recognised as a credible qualification. There are a number of courses at universities which students can go on to study following this qualification. These include physical education, sports and exercise science, sports and exercise psychology, sport business management, physiotherapy, sports media, sports engineering and sports coaching. In addition the course also provides an ideal opportunity for all students to develop employability skills as it links very closely to the world of work and thus providing a stepping stone for employment in leisure centres, gymnasiums, schools and sports clubs.

Learning journey

Our learning journeys can be used to understand each subject in more detail.

BTEC sport