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REPS NEWS
International registrars, including REPs Registrar Jean-Ann Marnoch, met at the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) convention in San Francisco in March (2011). Registrars from Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Ireland looked at changes made to the national occupational standards and agreed that the re-mapped standards would continue to support current reciprocal arrangements.
This means registered members from each country can still have their qualifications and experience recognised in the IC REPs (International Confederation of Registers of Exercise Professionals) partner countries, should they choose to live or work in one of them. The partners also agreed
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to register IC REPs as a formal company and IC REPs will now enjoy recognition as the International Confederation
of Registers of Exercise Professionals.
REPs Registrar Jean-Ann
Marnoch explains: “This will mean IC REPS and its member Registers will gain a much higher profile which in turn will mean greater recognition for our members too. The number of Registered Exercise Professionals globally now totals nearly 60,000, with a new Register in South Africa set to increase those numbers.
Pictured: Art Curtis, Chair of IHRSA; Joe Moore, President of IHRSA; Jean-Ann Marnoch, Registrar, REPs UK; Stephen Gacsal, Registrar, REPs NZ; Alison O’Kane, IHRSA; Craig Knox, General Manager, Fitness Australia; Catherine Carty, Chair, REPs Ireland Board of Governors, and Richard Beddie, CEO, Fitness New Zealand.
“The cachet of this agreement will also put us as Registrars in a much stronger position when it comes to lobbying key decision makers and presenting our members as highly qualified exercise professionals.”
Changes to REPs level 4 eligibility requirements
From 30 September 2011, the Level 3 exercise referral qualification will be a pre-requisite to gain entry onto the Register at Level 4.
The requirements for registration at Level 4 on REPs will be changing from 30 September 2011. Other Level 3 qualifications (such as Personal Training or Advanced Instructor) will not be accepted by Level 4 training providers from this date; it is expected that candidates will possess a Level 3 exercise referral qualification prior to enrolling on a Level 4 course.
For further information about the pre-requisite requirements for registration at Level 4 please refer to the Steps to Level 4 guidance published on the REPs website at www.exerciseregister.org
New level 4 categories
National Occupational Standards have been produced for three new level 4 Specialist Instructor categories in Cancer, Long Term Neurological Conditions and Chronic Respiratory Disease. These standards underpin the new categories at level 4 on the Register and mean that training providers are now able to offer courses for working with clients with these conditions.
REPs Registrar Jean-Ann Marnoch reports: “This is great news, and increases the number of specialist instructor categories (currently there are SkillsActive approved courses in Cardiac Disease, Falls Prevention, Stroke, Mental Health, Back Pain and Obesity/Diabetes).
“If we as an industry are to work with medics and healthcare practitioners as professionals we need to have relevant specialist knowledge and the introduction of standards for these additional level 4 categories takes us nearer to this goal.
“Training providers can now submit courses on working with clients with these conditions to SkillsActive for approval, which in turn means more REPs members can make the step to level 4 Specialist Instructor.”
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