Meet Ian Brown, our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager.
Every resource on this page is hand-picked by Ian. Open any toggle to read why we recommend it and who it is for. Start with the foundations, then explore the sections most relevant to the people you support.
Start here: the foundations
Good inclusion starts with shared understanding. Begin here to build the core knowledge, and the language, that every coach, volunteer and organisation needs.
Successful clubs and community organisations have inclusivity at their core. These resources from Buddle provide the tools, legal context, and practical guidance needed to build a welcoming environment where everyone can enjoy being active. Free to access.
This Buddle workshop will help attendees to understand the different barriers that people face, broaden your reach to attract a diverse range of people, and explore how you can create a positive environment to retain them. Free to access.
This Buddle workshop will explore your current activity offer and identify changes that could be made to help meet your existing members needs and reach new people to help you grow. Free to access.
Moving To Inclusion is an initiative by all the UK Sport Councils to provide resources and support for sport and physical activity organisations, moving towards a more diverse, inclusive and socially responsible sector. Resources include a self-diagnostic tool to help you assess where your organisation is now on its Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) journey and consider where you might need to focus effort and make further improvements. Free to access.
If Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is new to you or your team, start here. This short eLearning course from Sport Structures explains the difference between equality, diversity and inclusion in plain terms, and why each one matters to your organisation, so everyone begins from the same confident starting point. It is fully inclusive itself, with voiceovers and closed captions. £20 per person.
The natural next step after Level 1. This course from Sport Structures moves from awareness to action, helping you recognise the real barriers people from underrepresented groups face in accessing sport and physical activity and guidance to actually do something about them. Choose this when you are ready to change how your sessions or club run, not just understand the theory. £40 per person.
A Sport England-funded program where coaches learn about and complete knowledge checks on six essential pillars: Diversity, Inclusion, Mental Health, Physical Well-being, Safeguarding, and Safe to Practice, demonstrating a clear commitment to a safe and supportive coaching culture. Free to access. Members can access this directly via the Active Skills Learning Portal course catalogue (for more details or to log in, visit ‘Courses’ in the main menu)
A comprehensive guide to building environments where everyone belongs. Moving beyond basic compliance, it champions universal design principles to ensure public spaces, buildings, and community areas are seamlessly navigable, safe, and welcoming for people of all ages and abilities. Free to access.
Our own guide, created to help the sport and physical activity sector communicate in a way that makes everyone feel valued and included. The words we use decide who feels welcome before they ever turn up, and this is a quick, practical reference you can come back to again and again. Free to access.
Disability and long-term health conditions
Disabled people are far more likely to be inactive than non-disabled people, and most of that gap comes down to whether sessions are designed with them in mind. These resources build your confidence to adapt.
Activity Alliance is the leading voice on including disabled people in sport and activity. We recommend working through all seven eLearning courses sequentially. Collectively, these courses provide activity leaders with a comprehensive foundation in delivering accessible and welcoming experiences. Free to access.
Specialist training for fitness professionals and instructors on how to safely design and adapt movement for people living with long-term health conditions. Recommended if you work with older adults or in a referral or clinical setting. Paid qualification (fees apply).
Working with UK Coaching, British Blind Sport has created an e-learning course called ‘Coaching Blind and Partially Sighted People’. This course raises awareness of the part coaches play in helping people with visual impairments overcome the barriers to taking part. Sport-specific bolt-on modules for Goalball, Football, Swimming and Tennis are also available. Paid qualification (fees apply).
A catalogue of free and low-cost resources for including people with cerebral palsy and associated physical impairments. Includes specialist training for swimming teachers and a guide for delivering Taekwondo, so it works whether you want a quick read or formal CPD.
Four resources sit under this heading.
It’s Okay to Play resources (CP Sport) – Free to access
Introduction to Cerebral Palsy in Sport (UK Coaching – Paid qualification (fees apply)
Cerebral Palsy & Swimming (STA) – Paid qualification (fees apply)
British Taekwondo resource (PDF) – Free to access
Downloadable factsheets you can read before a session, with concrete adjustments for specific sports including Badminton, Gymnastics, Swimming and Taekwondo. Practical and quick to act on, rather than vague principles. Free to access.
Exercise videos, information sheets and case studies for supporting amputees and people with limb difference. The real-world case studies are the standout: seeing adaptation in practice gives you the confidence to try it yourself. Free to access.
A bookable workshop, developed with Mencap Sport, for groups of up to 15. It covers what a learning disability is, the barriers people face, and practical ways to include and communicate with them. Ideal when you want a whole club or staff team to build their confidence together. Paid workshop (fees apply).
For immediate guidance, begin with UK Deaf Sport’s free Top Tips, or take a deeper dive into their wider resource library. Then take your skills further with the “Deaf People’s Inclusion in Sport” eLearning course (via Accelerate Sport), ideal if you support or wish to engage with deaf and hard-of-hearing players.
Top tips and how to be accessible (UK Deaf Sport) – Free to access
Deaf People’s Inclusion in Sport course (Accelerate Sport) – Paid qualification (fees apply)
This course equips learners with the knowledge and skills to create and adapt programmes that meet the needs of disabled people. Click below to explore a live training opportunity delivered via Zoom, a specialist collaboration between Sarah Bolitho Training & Consultancy, Fitness Training Scotland, and Wodaptive. Alternative training providers and flexible learning formats are also available. Paid qualification (fees apply).
This course is designed to provide learners with an in depth understanding of the knowledge required to ensure safe and effective exercise programming for patients with various medical conditions. It highlights the most common reasons for patient placement into community-based exercise referral schemes, hence the course title. Paid qualification (fees apply).
Interested in finding training and qualifications tailored to a specific long-term health condition? Head to our resources page and filter by “Training and Qualifications” to explore a directory of specialist training opportunities.
Women and girls
Women and girls drop out of sport at higher rates than men and boys, usually because sessions, spaces and marketing were not designed with them in mind. These resources help you change the culture, not just the timetable.
Research, insight and toolkits from the longest-standing charity in this field. Use them to understand why women and girls leave sport, and to change your club or school’s culture and marketing so they stay. Free to access.
A whole programme, built on six principles, for tackling the barriers girls experience and getting them leading and shaping PE and sport themselves. Designed to support schools and organisations to make sustained change. Free to access.
Brings together the latest research, insight, guidance and tools to help you identify and overcome the barriers holding back the females you are trying to reach. Free to access.
Hundreds of free, curriculum-linked video lessons (yoga, dance, boxing and more) designed to be accessible, inclusive and empowering. Built specifically for teenage girls, the group most likely to drop out of PE, so it is ideal for school-based delivery. Exclusively for those working in a school in England. Free to access.
A dedicated project to help women and girls feel safe and confident in gyms, fitness and leisure facilities, with free resources, training and operator guidance. Essential if you work in a fitness or leisure setting, where feeling safe is often the very first barrier to taking part. Free to access.
Engaging Women and Girls is a live training workshop, available face to face or online, that explains what young women and girls actually need from physical activity and gives you techniques for delivering successful programmes. A practical choice for community and youth delivery, where theory needs to translate quickly into real sessions. Paid workshop (fees apply).
Focused courses and qualifications for coaches and instructors who want a deep understanding of how women’s health affects participation in physical activity. Pick the qualification that matches the people you support. Paid courses (fees apply) – use code Lincolnshire55 to apply an exclusive discount for Lincolnshire based learners.
Understanding the Menstrual Cycle in Exercise & Training
Pre and Post Natal
Menopause
Eating Disorders and Body Image Course
Children and young people
Positive early experiences shape whether a child stays active for life. These resources help you make sessions fun, inclusive and welcoming for every young person, including those with additional needs.
A library of practical, fun-first delivery resources aimed at individuals working with children and young people. A reliable go-to to keep sports and physical activity high-quality, engaging, and accessible for every child. Free to access.
A flexible, discussion-led resource pack designed to help practitioners understand how children and young people relate to movement. Rather than just encouraging more exercise, it uses youth voice to build confidence, belonging, and shape positive physical experiences. Free to access.
A comprehensive course from Aspire:ED full of practical ideas and strategies for including children with special educational needs and disabilities, including how to adjust Space, Task, Equipment and People (the STEP tool). Especially valuable for PE staff and school-based delivery. Free to access.
Over 120 different game and activity ideas, alongside expert guides and resources, to fully support the development of children’s physical literacy. Specialised training courses are also available to support implementation of these materials. Designed for both solo educators and broader organisations, participants can join as an individual or sign up their entire team to get started. Paid resource (fees apply).
A qualification designed to educate learners with knowledge and skills to confidently lead and deliver physical activity for adolescents. Paid qualification (fees apply).
Older Adults
Older adults face specific and often overlooked barriers to staying active and connected. These resources build the practical understanding needed to create genuinely accessible, age-friendly environments where everyone can thrive.
A training program or initiative designed to help individuals understand the needs of an older population and champion age-friendly practices within the community. Free to access.
A guide and resource framework to help businesses adapt their environments, services, and practices to be more accessible and welcoming to older consumers and employees. Free to access.
A qualification that develops the skills needed to plan and deliver tailored exercise programs specifically designed for older adults. It comes highly recommended by fitness industry providers. Paid Qualification (fees apply).
A two-part online training model covering cognitive benefits, falls prevention, and training strategies for the top 10 chronic conditions affecting older adults. Paid Qualification (fees apply).
Tailored advice and content intended to help older adults to get active or to share directly with the older adults you support to help them increase physical activity. Free to access.
Ethnically diverse communities
People from ethnically diverse communities face specific and often overlooked barriers to taking part. These resources build the cultural understanding needed to create genuinely welcoming, anti-racist environments.
Group workshops that go beyond the Equality Act to the underlying reasons equality matters for participation, drawing on the lived experience of underrepresented communities. “Making Sport Organisations Equitable” is mapped to the professional standard for working with culturally and ethnically diverse communities. Delivered face to face or online. Paid workshop (fees apply).
A recorded webinar session that explores how coaches can build supportive and accepting environments for all participants. It covers the core principles of cultural competence, the negative impacts of poor coaching practices, and practical strategies for fostering a diverse and welcoming setup. Free to access.
A guide designed to help the sport and physical activity sector navigate, understand, and use appropriate terminology surrounding ethnically diverse communities and racial discrimination. Free to access.
A comprehensive programme designed to help sport and physical activity organisations commit to and advance race equality, equity, and inclusion. Entry-level membership provides access to practical tools, including a terminology guide, inclusive marketing and recruitment resources, a faith calendar, and exclusive networking events. Paid membership (fees apply).
An eLearning course that builds the knowledge and skills to create an inclusive, supportive environment for clients from all cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds. A solid individual route if group training is not an option for you. Paid qualification (fees apply) – Use code Lincolnshire55 for an exclusive discount for Lincolnshire learners.
Not found what you’re looking for?
Begin with the foundations at the top of this page, or get in touch with our team for a steer on what fits your setting. For the full directory of partner organisations and tools, visit our Resources page.
