Background

The health and fitness industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK, with around 5,500 public and private facilities employing over 50,000 people. Not only is there rapid growth within this sector, but the government is increasingly relying on the industry to help it deliver on public health and activity targets in the fight against illness and obesity.

SkillsActive (the government-backed Sector Skills Council for the Active Leisure and Learning sector) is committed to ensuring that all parts of the sector are served by appropriate nationally recognised qualifications. It works with industry and higher education experts, partners, employers and awarding bodies to ensure the provision of qualifications which will assist the growth of a highly committed and competent workforce.

The Challenge

Employers in this sector often claim that it's getting harder to find good, well-trained and qualified staff, while more than one in five workers in the fitness industry feel that they have not been given adequate training to do their job properly. Historically, fitness organisations have undertaken in-house training, either by their own staff or by a third party training provider. The Register of Exercise Professionals, a national register of qualified instructors, has often recognised this training within the industry but it was not nationally accredited or funded. Although some of these gym groups have engaged with NVQs and apprenticeships, the main qualifications used to train their staff were not on the National Qualifications Framework.  With over 1,200 members of the public logging on the Fitness Register everyday to check their instructors’ qualifications, it is clear that the qualifications of instructors is of paramount importance to gym users.

To ensure continued growth, the industry needed to develop a country-wide recognised qualification system that was easy to set up, was flexible enough for staff to participate in over time, would recognise achievement through the award of credit for units and qualifications, allowed credit to be accumulated and transferred between qualifications and awarding bodies and would reap real rewards and benefits for both employers and employees.

Process

The aim of lead organisation SkillsActive is to test whether units and qualifications from the QCF are appropriate to in-company employee training for the major health and fitness club operators. Three awarding bodies are involved in the project, Active IQ, Central YMCA Qualifications and the Vocational Training Charitable Trust (VTCT) and three major employer organisations, Fitness First, David Lloyd Leisure and DC Leisure.  The project attempted to achieve centrally agreed training through national standards, common units and nationally recognised qualifications. 

All awarding QCF bodies are using the same qualification title of Advanced Fitness Instructing (Level 3, gym, which is the equivalent to an A Level).  Eventually, it's hoped that many of the industry's 40,000 fitness instructors will hold this qualification.

The qualifications will define the main roles and responsibilities within an area. They provide a clear description of what an employee needs to do to perform his/her job successfully, consisting of a detailed breakdown of the tasks, knowledge and skills needed for effective performance within a job role, including statutory or legal responsibilities.  Assessment is undertaken through a mix of practical and theory based assessment methods. 

The awarding bodies have worked together with SkillsActive to develop the units which have been placed on the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF), with different models of undertaking and approach being used in the project. For example, Central YMCA Qualifications is working directly with the employer, while in the case of Active IQ and VTCT, there is a work based training provider involved in the partnership.  For Fitness First, Performance Training Solutions provided a certified personal training course based on the most recent research and application based education, which is being rolled out at its 170 gyms across the UK. 

The Register of Exercise Professionals is the mechanism for employers and the public alike to ascertain whether a fitness professional is qualified for their job.  The Register is operated by SkillsActive and currently has 25,000 members.  Ensuring staff are on the Register will be a key part of the Code of Practice for employer members of the Fitness Industry Association, the industry’s trade body.  The SkillsActive QCF Tests and Trials project aims to ensure that all training which gives entry to the Register leads to a nationally recognised qualification on the QCF. 

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Debra Stuart - Executive Director of Active IQ said: 'We were delighted to be involved in this project and found the whole experience a great exercise in testing the future flexibility of the Qualifications Credit Framework. The project has enabled us as an Awarding Body to 'think outside the box" and recognise and accredit a valuable contribution to education within our sector.  We would welcome future collaborative partnerships.'

Matt Coulson - Director Performance Training Solutions Ltd said: 'The test and trial project has enabled us to test the working relationship between the employer, the training provider and the Awarding Body to test the service delivered to the employees and to ensure a fully accredited and quality assured course can be delivered and assessed by the training provider which meets the needs of the employer in the most cost effective way possible.'