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Training news Shaping the future of skills


CIMSPA and SkillsActive are set to discuss the future of skills development at a key summit, amid calls from employers for major reforms, reports Jak Phillips


P


hysical activity sector skills bodies are due to meet in the coming weeks to discuss the future of industry learning and development, amid growing calls


from employers for these responsibilities to sit under a single organisation. The recent ukactive-led Active Training


• The custodianship of standards and the framework for skills to sit within one body


Conference in Reading (see p24) saw SkillsActive and CIMSPA – the sector’s key training and workforce development organisations – answer calls from employers for a unified outlook on skills. As a result, the organisations’ heads will meet in the coming weeks to discuss these demands under three guiding principles:


• A continuum of training provision across Further Education and Higher Education


• A minimum standard for assessment and delivery across all sector qualifi cations


There has recently been growing


support for reform of learning and development in the physical activity sector. A coalition of leading leisure employers are now developing apprenticeship standards under the ongoing Trailblazer project, and many have called for a greater emphasis on employer-led learning and development for the sector as a whole. A number of active leisure employers


feel the current learning and development structure – whereby skills development sits under more than body – is diluting training standards and making it difficult for young people to follow clear career pathways in the sector. SkillsActive is licensed as the Sector


Skills Council for Active Leisure, but this status has recently been called into question by those advocating change. In January, 16 of the Trailblazer employers signed a letter sent to Sport England – of which SkillsActive is a national partner – and three other relevant bodies, calling for sector skills and development to be brought solely under the umbrella of CIMSPA. Health Club Management understands the letter was discussed informally between Sport England and SkillsActive. A spokesperson for Sport England confirmed that the organisation is currently looking into the matter. One of the signatories of the letter,


1Life managing director Neil King, said the May 2015 ©


Cybertrek 2015


(From left) ukactive’s David Stalker, SkillsActive’s Ian Taylor and CIMSPA’s Tara Dillon


industry must act now to put its house in order and reform the skills pathway. “This is a huge opportunity to rectify a confusing and vague system by bringing all of the industry’s learning and development needs under the umbrella of the Chartered Institute,” he told Health Club Management. “Industry learning and development


should be employer-led and everybody behind the Apprenticeships Trailblazer feels that CIMSPA would be best suited to facilitate this. SkillsActive is a government creation that isn’t owned or overseen by the employers. It no longer serves a role overseeing learning and development in our industry.” SkillsActive CEO Ian Taylor is due to


meet his CIMSPA counterpart Tara Dillon in the next couple of weeks. Taylor said his organisation had been delighted to attend the Active Training Conference and support the growth ambitions of CIMSPA. “SkillsActive is fully committed to


working collaboratively whenever possible with CIMSPA to achieve its ambitions


to professionalise the management and leadership across our industry,” he said. “We’re already working with a wide


range of partners, collaborating to professionalise the sport, fitness, physical activity and outdoor sectors on behalf of a wide range of employers, and will continue working to improve skills, learning and professional development in the sector.” For her part, Dillon, who was recently


appointed CEO of CIMSPA after impressing during a stint as interim COO, has committed to decisive action in the pursuit of progress. “From CIMSPA’s perspective, the


sector has made it clear that it wants to take control of skills, so it’s now time to get on with making this happen,” she told Health Club Management. “The forthcoming meeting with


SkillsActive is about action and outcomes. CIMSPA pledges to maintain momentum and to act with pace to embed the agreed ‘guiding principles’ into workforce development norms.”


Read Health Club Management online at healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital 15


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