By Paul Bailey, Education Officer
Education at Reading FC has certainly changed over the years. Sometimes people talk about the old YTS apprentice schemes and don't realise just what the young players do these days. It's a far cry from cleaning boots and making cups of tea!

We are one of the three unique clubs along with Portsmouth and Arsenal, who do all of our education in house. We start with them at age 16 when they arrive in June.

Most clubs won't start their boys on the programme until the education year begins in September. So our boys have a head start and if we need the boys to do extra training, they can come out of a session because they are so far ahead with their studies. That also helps if there is a boy who wants to go out on a work experience loan, like when Alex Pearce went to Northampton Town last season.

We get monitored by OFSTED in the same way a school would. We've just had our yearly inspection and come out with a grade 1, which is the top grade. We have eight visits a year to make sure the scheme is running correctly and we're also verified by the Premier League so it's a really structured system. Everything is monitored and checked, it's just like being a school within a football club.

These days the boys are contracted to do a BTEC National Level 3 course, the equivalent of about four A levels. This is done during the two years they are with us trying to get their professional contracts.

One of their qualifications is geared around their training, with technical and tactical work as well as physiological and psychological elements. This teaching also has elements to help them with planning for the future, financial planning and a little bit of media training.

Another qualification is more theoretical. Depending on their GCSE grades when they come to us, they either do another course which is equal to four GCSEs, and then they go on to do another A Level. Or they do a National Diploma in Sport and Exercise Science or Sport and Performance.

The scheme is run by the Learning Skills Council, and it's the first scholarship in sport that they can do. With their football they can still come in and train full time. So like apprenticeship schemes, it's also about on the job training. If the boys want to go and do separate A Levels they can. We try to keep the team together doing the same structured course, but it's not set in stone, and they can change elements and pick up other topics if they want to.

The boys' working week is structured to tie in with their training as well as their education. The boys have one full day of college theory, which is done in the 1871 Suite at Madejski Stadium. We have a good teaching environment at the stadium with computers and interactive boards. And that education is also geared around football.

As well as the day at the stadium, they also complete a day-to-day technical logbook which is used for their NVQs. On Mondays they complete a technical match analysis using the ProZone programme. It means they can evaluate their own performance against the first team players, and see what they need to do to move on to that next level.

So it has changed dramatically over the last few years. I've been teaching the scholars here for over nine years now. Five years ago the new course was brought in which tied everything in together, before that it was very disparate, with players doing courses all over the place at different times - that made it different to get everyone together for training. Two years ago they changed it again and cut down the scholarship scheme from three years to two.

My reward is seeing the boys who don't make the grade do well with their schooling, in the same way that coaches like to see them doing well on the pitch. Last year every single one of our boys completed their schooling. They can now go onto become a coach if it doesn't work out as a player - they all have the equivalent of four A levels behind them. So it sets them up for a life away from football if they need it. And we can help them beyond that. Once they are finished with us, we have contacts at sports scholarships in the USA, or over here in the UK, who can help set things up if they need assistance.

Obviously, it is sometimes difficult to make sure the boys are focussed on their studies. The pull of being a footballer is so big, we need them to realise that their education is so important if things don't work out for them as a player.

It's good to see former success stories, and we have people come to talk to the players about what these courses can achieve. We've had one of our former academy graduates, Peter Castle, who was our youngest ever first team player at the club. He is now doing his PE teaching qualifications on the back of what he did here. We have two other former scholars Chris Davies and Matt Birnie who went onto Loughborough University as well, so the system works and we have some good role models for the boys.