training & qualifi cations
OUT “W
BRANCHING
Kate Cracknell reports on the opportunity for operators to enter the arena of training provision
e’re fed up with the multiplicity of providers and qualifications that exist in the fitness
industry,” says Mark Sesnan, MD of GLL, by way of explaining the need for the new SPELG (Skills Protocol Employer Leadership Group) project – an initiative that will help ensure employers have more say on the type, and content, of qualifications in the sector. “SPELG comprises a group of eight
chief executive level persons – two each from the FIA, sporta (trusts), the private sector, and CLOA (public sector) – plus an independent chair. It isn’t just about training – it’s the fi rst time we’ve all worked together and it’s working well, looking at changing the way the industry protects itself. But when it comes to training, historically it’s been a mess, and we are determined to bring order. We’ve been working together quietly over the last 18 months to try and make sense of it all.
MBODIES ACADEMY T 40
he new pilates-focused Mbodies Academy is part of a dual-purpose public use/
training facility in Oxfordshire, and will also deliver training in hosting centres around the UK. The new training arm was
developed in response to a perceived need for education beyond Pilates Level 3 to effectively work with special populations. It therefore delivers not only traditional pilates equipment qualifi cations, but also specialist, evidence-based education for pilates work with people with specifi c medical conditions.
“We believe that pilates principles offer
a better foundation for the teaching of all populations than traditional exercise principles do, and therefore these principles underpin all of our teaching,” says Mbodies director Chris Onslow. “Our training will go way beyond
government standards at Level 2, 3 or 4, with much deeper content and more contact time with course instructors: it’s not just about meeting standards but about taking an approach that allows our graduates to be creative and effective. “It’s easy for training providers who
are not operators to become interested only in meeting the standards set by
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REPs and industry regulators, because they don’t have the relationship with the end user. However, while this may guarantee training at a consistently good standard, it’s easy for that training not to be exceptional. “While I welcome the SPELG
initiative as a framework geared towards making the industry more responsive to customer needs, I hope we will see those involved in setting standards stretching the expectations of knowledge and ability outside the comfort levels found in our existing standards for PTs, pilates instructors and group exercise teachers.”
november/december 2011 © cybertrek 2011 “At the moment, for example, kids
who go into college are given the impression that they’re being trained for a job in the leisure industry, but when they come out at the end of their course, we have to retrain them
– the leisure management courses they’ve done don’t actually contain any components of leisure management! “We need a single qualifi cation structure – a system for everything
and everyone who provides training. Hopefully we’ll end up with a Chartered Institute, and everyone who works in the sector will hold a skills passport. “It’s a journey, and we’re not quite
sure how we’re going to get there, but we do have to agree on the destination. Employers have to stick together, irrespective of any competitive differences, to make sure that we get this single structure. It might take two
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