{"id":86723,"date":"2026-08-21T12:13:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T12:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bmaba.org.uk\/clubs\/?page_id=86723"},"modified":"2026-08-21T12:13:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T12:13:32","slug":"curriculum-design-pedagogy-martial-arts-cpd","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bmaba.org.uk\/clubs\/uk-martial-arts-association-governing-body-instructor-membership\/martial-arts-certification-licensing\/curriculum-design-pedagogy-martial-arts-cpd\/","title":{"rendered":"Curriculum Design & Pedagogy Martial Arts CPD"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\tCurriculum Design & Pedagogy .<\/i> CPD Award<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Most Martial Arts Curricula Live In One Person’s Head<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t

You know what comes next. You know which student is ready and which needs another month. You know why the syllabus is ordered the way it is, even if nobody has ever written it down.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

That works, right up until you are ill, or you take on a second class, or an assistant covers for you, or you want to sell the club one day. This course is about getting what you know out of your head and into a form that survives you.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tGet Access<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe full syllabus<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"The\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/header>\n\n\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\tWhere It Starts<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t

There Is Always A Gap Between The Syllabus You Teach And The One You Think You Teach<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Lesson two is called What Your Students Are Actually Learning, and it is deliberately the first real lesson of the course, because everything after it depends on being honest about that gap.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Almost every club has one. The techniques that get drilled every week because you enjoy them. The ones on the grading sheet that get ten minutes in the fortnight before. The theory nobody has covered since 2019 but which is still, officially, required. The white belt who has done more sparring than the green belt purely because of which nights they attend.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

None of that makes anyone a bad instructor. It makes them an instructor without a curriculum, which is a different problem and a fixable one.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n\n\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\tThe Full Running Order<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Every Lesson, In The Order You Will Study Them<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Eighteen lessons across six modules, finishing on a final examination. Our longest coaching-craft course, and the one that changes how a club runs rather than how a single session goes.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tModule One<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

What Is Actually Being Taught<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

The uncomfortable starting point: the gap between the syllabus you think you teach and what your students are genuinely learning.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

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  1. Introduction to Curriculum Design and Pedagogy in Martial Arts<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
  2. What Your Students Are Actually Learning<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ol>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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    \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tModule Two<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

    Getting The Art Onto Paper<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

    Capturing an entire art in a form somebody else could teach from, then building a progression framework that holds together.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

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    1. Getting Your Whole Art Onto Paper<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
    2. Progression Frameworks: Grades, Levels, Tags, and Equivalency<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
    3. Sequencing and Mapping: Making Progression Coherent<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ol>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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      \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tModule Three<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

      Planning The Year, Not The Evening<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

      Schemes of work across terms and blocks, the rhythm of introducing and embedding, a full library of drills and theory, and writing a lesson plan that comes out of the curriculum rather than out of the air.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

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      1. The Scheme of Work: Planning Across Terms and Blocks<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
      2. Introducing and Embedding: The Rhythm of a Block<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
      3. Building the Full Library: Drills, Games, Conditioning, and Theory<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
      4. Writing a Lesson Plan From Your Curriculum<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ol>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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        \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tModule Four<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

        How People Actually Learn Movement<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

        Skill acquisition applied to the mat, and how progression has to change between a child, a teenager and an adult beginner.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

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        1. How People Learn Movement: Skill Acquisition for the Mat<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
        2. Age and Stage: Progression for Children and Adults<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ol>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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          \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tModule Five<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

          One Room, Many Levels<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

          The problem every club has and almost no curriculum accounts for: designing for access from the outset, structuring a genuinely mixed-ability class, and running the same drill at different demands.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

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          1. Inclusion by Design: Building Access Into the Plan<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
          2. One Room, Many Levels: Structuring the Mixed-Ability Class<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
          3. Differentiation in Practice: Same Drill, Different Demands<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ol>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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            \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tModule Six<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

            Past The Black Belt, And Keeping It Alive<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

            What senior grades do once the syllabus runs out, how to use assistant instructors properly, and reviewing a curriculum so it evolves rather than calcifies.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

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            1. Developing Your Senior Grades and Black Belts<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
            2. Working With Assistant Instructors<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
            3. Reviewing and Evolving Your Curriculum<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
            4. Curriculum Design and Pedagogy in Martial Arts Final Exam<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ol>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
              \n\t\t\t\t\t18 Lessons<\/span>6 Modules<\/span>Fully Online<\/span>Integrated Final Exam<\/span>Instant Digital Certificate<\/span>Mapped To CIMSPA Standards<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n\n\t\t\t
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              \n\t\t\t\t\tWho It Is For<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t

              For Instructors Who Already Coach Well And Want To Coach Deliberately<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t

              This is not a beginner course and it does not pretend to be. It sits above the single session and asks what the whole thing is for.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

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              \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYou are opening a second class<\/strong>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTwo classes on different nights drift apart within a term unless something written holds them together. That something is a curriculum.<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
              \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSomebody else has to teach it<\/strong>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAn assistant covering a session, a senior grade taking the juniors, an instructor at a second site. They cannot teach what only exists in your head.<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
              \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYour gradings feel inconsistent<\/strong>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIf two students at the same grade have visibly different skills, the syllabus is not doing the work you think it is. Sequencing and mapping is the fix.<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
              \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYour black belts have run out of road<\/strong>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMost syllabi stop at 1st Dan and hope. Lesson fifteen is about what senior grades do for the next decade.<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n\n\t\t\t
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              \n\t\t\t\t\tThe Module Clubs Need Most<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t

              One Room, Many Levels<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t

              Very few clubs have the luxury of streamed classes. Most have a hall containing a nervous beginner, three intermediates, a brown belt and somebody returning after two years off, all at seven o’clock on a Tuesday, all expecting to get something out of it.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

              Module Five is entirely about that room. Inclusion designed in from the start rather than adapted for afterwards, structuring a genuinely mixed-ability session, and differentiation in practice: the same drill run at different demands so nobody is bored and nobody is drowning.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

              It is the module most likely to change what next Tuesday looks like, and it pairs directly with our SEND and Coaching Children awards, which come at the same room from different angles.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

              \n\t\t\t\t\t\tSEND In Martial Arts →<\/span><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCoaching Children & Young People →<\/span><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n\n\t\t\t
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              \n\t\t\t\t\t\tWhere The Theory Meets Tuesday<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

              The Course Teaches The Thinking. The Planner Is Where You Do It.<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

              Lesson nine is Writing a Lesson Plan From Your Curriculum, and that is precisely the point at which most instructors stall. Not because they do not know what to teach, but because building a scheme of work in a notebook, term after term, is genuinely tedious and the first busy week kills it.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

              The BMABA Lesson Planner is the tool for exactly that job, and it is free with every membership. Build sessions on a visual timeline, keep a library of your own drills and warm-ups so nothing is rebuilt from scratch, and use an AI assistant grounded in your own material rather than in generic sports content.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

              The two are designed to meet. This course produces the curriculum; the Planner is where it becomes a term of actual sessions, and where reflection after each one feeds back into the next review.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tExplore The Lesson Planner<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t