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TRAINING


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The changing face of the playwork sector


We need to ensure that people in the play sector have the right skills and qualifications


O More people are now interested in a career in health and fitness


Sales up at Premier Training 48 per cent increase in interest in fitness courses


By Tom Walker Training provider Premier Training International (PTI) has reported a 48 per cent increase in the number of people that have applied to study for health and fitness qualifications. The company, which offers


NVQ courses at Levels Two and Three, has trained more than 5,000 people through entry level diplomas in the last two years, with a 95 per cent success rate over the past 12 months. According to PTI, the growth in applicants is due to the expansion of the


sector's job market and an increase in the number of local authority and PFI fitness facilities now available. PTI chief executive officer


Debra Stuart said: "We put the increase in demand for our courses down to the fact that the health and fitness sector has proven to be virtually recession proof. "16-24-year-olds make up the


majority of our course applicants but there are older students too and those looking to retrain after either changing careers or exiting the armed forces or emergency services."


Football club to offer qualifications


Blackburn Rovers Football Club has teamed up with Myerscough College in Preston, Lancashire, to offer an academic qualification for young girls who are leaving school. The initiative has been designed to enhance career opportunities for talented female footballers. Myerscough College tutors


will deliver two courses at the football club's Indoor Centre at Ewood Park – a first


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diploma and a national diploma in football studies. The courses will utilise the


on-site facilities and resourc- es, which include two designated classrooms, two indoor pitches and an IT suite. The partnership focuses on


providing the girls with a football coaching qualifica- tion, while offering them the possibility of progression to play in the Blackburn Rovers Ladies first team.


ver the last few years we have experienced a step-change in the way the playwork sector


approaches training and qualifications. Sector employers have embraced the move toward a professionally qualified workforce, and there’s been a change in perception of the sector. Playwork is beginning to become recognised as an industry with real career options. Playwork is a highly skilled profession


that enriches and enhances children’s play. It takes place where adults support children’s play, but it is not driven by prescribed education or care outcomes. As with all our sub-sectors, our role is to improve the quality and range of play opportunities for children and young people through the professional development of the playwork workforce. With the introduction of playwork-specific national occupational standards, the Qualifications and Credit Framework, and various bursary schemes relating to higher level qualifications for the sector, we are certainly driving professionalisation. However, recent results from our Playwork People 4 survey suggests that playwork sector employers are still struggling to find the staff they need with the right skills. A staggering 60 per cent of employers surveyed stated that they do not have all the skills they need across their workforce to run their business as they would like. When asked what skills were lacking in their workforce, a ‘knowledge of the playwork values and principles’ was top of the list. This may be caused by the fact that 44 per cent of playworkers do not have a playwork specific qualification. These results are telling. No matter how much the sector has


STEPHEN STUDD is chief executive of SkillsActive


moved on, unless we get the messages out there, the workforce is still not seeing our sector as a viable career option and this is a huge challenge. One of the key developments for the sector was the publication of the first ever UK strategy for playwork, Quality Training: Quality Play. For the very first time we had a UK-wide approach to the development of playworkers and the beginnings of a recognition and support for the playwork profession within Westminster and the devolved administrations. That strategy runs until 2011, and following the recent change in government and its subsequent review and revision of policies, it is timely that we have been consulting on a new strategy for the sector which is due to be published in the autumn and will run until 2016. The new strategy will refocus the sector's attention on workforce


development and the need to have more people, better skilled, better qualified entering and progressing, a career through the sector. It will give particular emphasis on giving the sector the professional recognition and support it needs.


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