PREMIER LEAGUE

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT RULES
EDUCATION AND WELFARE
Full Time Training Model
177. Each Club which operates an Academy shall, in respect of each of its Academy Players in the Youth
Development Phase being trained under the Full Time Training Model, ensure that it provides the
Academy Player with education in accordance with one of the four options set out below or in
accordance with such other proposals as the League may approve.
Guidance
The Full Time Training Model may be used by Category 1 Academies in the Youth Development Phase, and must be used by all
Academies in the Professional Development Phase: see further Rule 104.
The four options referred to in Rule 177 are as follows. This list of options is not exhaustive, and Clubs are free to develop other
models which deliver the same results as the options set out in the Elite Player Performance Plan. Any such model must be
approved by the League.
Option 1
Entering into contractual relationships with an identified school or schools in which the players are based for their education
will be a familiar solution. This approach will extend the types of relationships that already exist with schools.
The relationship will need to be flexed in terms of the amount of time that Academies would require players to be available for
daily coaching. Where Academies implement the Hybrid or Full Time Training Models the school day will need to be flexed to
accommodate the Coaching Programme whilst ensuring that boy’s educational development does not suffer.
Specific tutor support for the Education Programme will be required for all players engaged in the Hybrid and Full Time Training
Model over and above the normal curriculum. Additional tutor support will need to be individually tailored to the players’ needs.
Academies will need to decide how and where players will be coached. The optimum environment is at the club’s dedicated
training facilities but this will require a school in Education Option 1 to be in close proximity to the club’s training facility so that
the players can move easily between the school and the club. If an Academy plans to deliver a Full Time Training Model then the
school will need to be in close proximity to the training ground or else the training will need to be accommodated at the school.
The other major consideration for Category 1 Academies will be the need to provide dedicated housing, house parents and a
secure environment in which to live and work whilst staying with the club. This will need to apply to all players who live outside
a short commute from their club’s training ground.
Option 2
In this option, clubs may choose to develop and extend their own educational facilities at the training ground and, in effect,
develop an onsite school facility. For the Category 1 Academy, accommodation would still be required on or near the training
ground to house the players and the associated social and welfare support would need to be factored into the delivery of this
approach. Clubs may continue to contract an educational partner/provider but the schooling would take place at the club.
Option 3
Clubs may wish to establish their own schools. These schools may be general in their recruitment with specialist classes or
groups of classes catering for the Academy Players’ specialist needs. In this Education Option the same issues regarding the
location of the school on or near the training ground remain relevant as does the need to provide appropriate housing and care.
Option 4
Where two or three Academies are clustered together, especially in urban areas, it may be possible to identify a single school
where each of the clubs send their players. This school would then become the hub for the Academies. The Coaching Programme
may be split between the training ground and the school premises subject to the sighting of the school in relation to the club.
Further guidance in respect of education in the Professional Development Phase, where all Clubs must utilise the Full Time
Training Model, is set out in paragraph 7.3.3 of the Elite Player Performance Plan.
All Academies in the Professional Development Phase will be required to deliver the Full Time Training Model. Players will have
access to training up to four hours a day in two separate sessions. The season will be developed increasingly to mirror the
professional game so there will be less opportunity to flex the season for purposes of creating greater Coaching Contact Time
during the summer months.
Category 1 and 2 Academies will have the necessary infrastructure at their training grounds to enable them to provide Formal
Education provision for players U17 and U18 which may be delivered principally at the Training Ground rather than offsite at a
school or college.
This approach envisages the delivery of the Formal Education components at the training ground in purpose built facilities and as
part of an integrated flexible weekly programme which compliments and supports the Coaching Programme. The delivery of the
Formal Education Programme may be either through fully qualified in house staff or through an outside provider who is able to
meet the needs and demands of the integrated programme. Delivering the Education Programme in this way will provide
maximum flexibility allowing coaches to flex and stretch the Coaching Programme to suit the particular needs of each player.
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