2021 changes to the Officiating Pathway England Netball (EN) have introduced changes to the Officiating Pathway in 2021. These changes are summarised below.
The Into Officiating Award will become the mandatory first step for all new learners. Learners must attend an Into Officiating course and pass the Into Officiating Practical Assessment before moving on to a C Award course.
Learners who have already attended a C Award course but haven’t yet passed the C Award Written Paper and/or the C Award Practical Pre-assessment will not need to pass the Into Officiating Practical Assessment before progressing with their C Award.
The C Award Written Paper will be taken online: the cost will be £10.
Into Officiating and C Award courses will be delivered online: B Award courses will be a blend of online learning and a practical session. Counties will organise practical sessions for learners who have attended an Into Officiating or C Award course. All course bookings will be managed by EN online and all learners will need full EN membership to book a course online.
Course content/cost
Into Officiating courses will comprise of two 2-hour interactive virtual sessions delivered via Zoom. Learners will each receive a hard copy resource, a whistle and a rule book prior to the course. The cost of the course will be £40 per learner.
C Award courses will comprise of two 1½ hour interactive virtual sessions delivered via Zoom. Each learner will receive an electronic resource to support the course delivery. Once the virtual course is completed, the learner will be invited to take their C Award Written Paper online. The cost of the course (including one attempt at the C Award Written Paper – usually an additional £10) will be £45 per learner.
B Award courses will have a blended approach and will comprise of two 1 ½ hour interactive virtual sessions delivered via Zoom and will be followed up by a 2-hour practical session (delivered face to face). Each learner will receive an electronic resource to support the course delivery. The cost of the course will be £60 per learner.
Timing of EN roll-out plan
Extension of the England Netball and Netball Europe Officiating Awards A further extension has been confirmed for learners on the Officiating Pathway-22 months from the original expiry date. Your County Umpiring Secretary will contact learners within her County to confirm their specific situation.
Into Officiating Courses
EN began delivering 4 pilot Into Officiating courses at the end of March. Based on feedback on the waiting lists, places on these pilot courses are being offered to those learners who were booked onto an Into Officiating course that was previously approved by EN, a COF number was issued to the County and where the associated resources were ordered from Coachwise. EN will contact the relevant course organiser of each of these courses to obtain the details of the learners involved and will work with them to ensure the learners are offered a place on one of the above courses.
The next stage will be to offer a place on one of 10 Into Officiating courses to learners who were booked onto an Into Officiating course that was previously approved by EN and a COF number issued. EN will contact the relevant course organiser of each of these courses to obtain the details of the learners involved and will work with them to ensure the learners are offered a place on one of the above courses and payment for the learners. These courses will commence in mid April.
Finally, EN will be launching new Into Officiating courses (to be delivered between May to September) to the Netball family on the EN course finder at the end of April. These courses will be starting at the end of May.
C Award Courses
These courses will commence at the end of May. Online C Award Written Paper The online Written Paper is now available. Your County Umpiring Secretary can send you a copy of the Application Form.
B Award Courses
These courses will (subject to the Government’s national roadmap being implemented as planned) commence in July
County/Regional Support
Counties and L&SER remain committed to the development of umpires and will continue to provide mentoring to learner umpires.
Given the centralised management of bookings by EN, Counties will not be able to continue to subsidise course costs by reducing costs to their learners: however, Counties will explore other options for financial support, including offering a bursary/grant to eligible learners.
Contacts
Please contact your County Umpiring Secretary if you have any queries or would like any further information. Any changes or updates to any of the above will be advised as soon as possible.
Jane Kelloe Chairman, L&SER Officiating Technical Support Group 29 April 2021