4 Introducing the ARC (anti-racist coaching) model
This OpenLearn course is designed around the ‘ARC’ model of anti-racist coaching practice that was developed primarily by the authors of this OpenLearn course, Jim Lusted and Daniel Kilvington, with support from their colleagues Anika Leslie-Walker and Asad Qureshi (Kilvington, Lusted and Leslie-Walker, 2025; Lusted, Kilvington and Qureshi, 2021) following a research project undertaken with the English Premier League. This project identified best practice among football coaches working with young players from diverse ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds.
The ARC model is also informed by anti-racist education and pedagogy research, drawing on key concepts and approaches that have been utilised to enhance teacher training and educator practice over many years.
In particular, the ARC model is underpinned by an educational approach termed ‘culturally relevant pedagogy’, developed in the 1990s to address the systematic disadvantages faced by young Black pupils in the US education system (Ladson-Billings, 1995). This approach proposed that young learners who belong to marginalised groups struggle to ‘fit in’ or be successful in educational environments that fail to recognise, value or draw upon their cultural diversity.
Across Sessions 2 and 3 of this course, you will explore in some detail each of the six core principles that make up the ARC model of practice. Along the way, several top tips and practical examples will be discussed to help you consider how coaches adopt these principles into their everyday practice supporting in sport settings. The next activity introduces the ARC model and encourages you, at this early stage of the course, to reflect on how these core anti-racist coaching principles relate to your current practice.
Activity 2 An introduction to the ARC model
Take a look at the interactive diagram below which provides a basic overview of the six core principles. Spend a little time familiarising yourself with the ARC model by reading through the descriptions of each principle provided.
Now complete the table below to help you reflect on how your approach might align to the ARC model – you may find the principles are quite familiar and close to your practice, or the ARC model may reveal areas that you have not considered before. Add a tick, cross or type Yes or No into the text boxes in the table.
To be looked at
| ARC principle | This is already embedded in my coaching practice | I could do this more effectively/regularly | I’ve never really thought about this |
| Be culturally self-aware and reflective | |||
| Build culturally competent relationships | |||
| Adapt your practice to meet needs | |||
| Develop anti-racism among players | |||
| Be an ARC influencer | |||
| Create and sustain an ARC environment |
Identify the areas you feel you want or need to focus particularly on initially – and check again at the end of the course.
Having been introduced to the ARC model, the next section looks into some of the potential benefits of adopting ARC into a coach’s practice.