Being employer-led is crucial for us as a Sector Skills Council; it means that employer’s needs are at the heart of everything that we do. With this in mind, we have a strong employer-led structure within SkillsActive through our board of trustees, sector council, home country committees and our sub-sector committees – all of which influence and direct our work.

Through our current re-licensing process, sector employers have taken the opportunity to shape a number of direct messages to government; which will be delivered through the UK Commission for Employment and Skills; about the skills system and its impact on our sector.

The time and commitment of sector employers by engaging with us sends out a strong message in itself; the active leisure and learning sector is engaged with the skills and education agenda. Through the development of standards, the sector qualifications strategy, new and existing qualifications, employers are shaping the skills of their current and future workforce.

However, they remain concerned about the unresponsiveness of the government in a number of key areas that impact on our sector. Prioritisation is key, active leisure and learning needs to be considered a priority sector not only because of its major contribution to the economy, but also its contribution to other key agendas including health, physical activity, social cohesion, personal and social development and education. Qualification reform must lead to a well planned and implemented credit-based system however; if we continue to witness an over-hasty transfer of qualifications to the new framework it will compromise the effectiveness of a well planned and properly implemented credit structure.

The skills agenda is devolved so there is a need to ensure transparency between the qualifications and credit framework and the Scottish qualifications and credit framework, and how qualifications, levels and credits articulate across the two. Our role in approving qualifications needs clearer definition; and higher education courses must produce industry-ready graduates. We have been lobbying against the PSA target-driven ‘full-fat’ qualifications that receive public funding; the nature of our sector doesn’t necessarily align itself to these larger qualifications and in the majority of work places would benefit from ‘bite-size’ learning which directly reflects employer needs. This learning needs to be part of government targets and attract public funding if our sector is to continue to grow and flourish.  

There needs to be a greater return on employer investment into developing the skills system. Our strong engagement over the past five years with employers has been hugely beneficial for the sector. This needs to be further acknowledged at government level as employers will become reluctant to engage in government-led processes through us if they feel that once asked for their opinion, nothing changes as a result. And finally, the government must stop moving the goal posts and ensure a joined up approach to skills across departments.

I’m sure that you will agree that these messages reflect the core needs of the sector, to this end, we will continue to lobby the government on behalf of the sector to get the recognition it sorely deserves.

The governments’ recognition of play and the importance of playworkers has seen an increasing emergence of agencies to deliver to the sector. As the Sector Skills Council for playwork, SkillsActive’s role is to improve the quality and range of play opportunities for children and young people through the professional development of the playwork workforce. The skills agenda is a devolved matter; with this in mind we work to influence education and skills policies across the four nations, ensuring their relevance to the sector, and advising government on how to prioritise its funding, as well as re-directing funding into the sector.

We are a coordinated voice for the sector, which is reflected in a coherent and evidenced demand for skills, and we work with deliverers and suppliers of vocational education to meet the skills and training needs of the sector.

SkillsActive’s vision is more people, better skilled, better qualified; we believe that in order to deliver quality services it is imperative that employers commit to investing in the their workforce. The playwork sector is central to our work and we have an integrated mission across our footprint – to promote healthy and active lifestyles, alongside a child’s right to play.

Playwork is not driven by prescribed education or care outcomes however, like sport, outdoor and adventure activities, play allows for active learning. It lays the foundation for an active and healthy lifestyle, and is provided in settings that are shared across the whole of the active leisure and learning sector – leisure centres, recreation centres, community centres, holiday playschemes, outdoor activity centres and recreation grounds.

To ensure the sector’s ongoing success, we are delivering on five priorities identified by playwork employers within our Sector Skills Agreement – to improve recruitment and retention of the workforce, to upskill and professionalise the existing workforce, to match training and supply to employer demand, to redirect and secure new funding for training to meet employment needs, to increase sector investment in our people – these priorities shape our work within the sector across the UK.

Funding for 4,000 places on training courses has been offered to Playworkers in England as part of the Government’s commitment in the Children’s Plan to develop a professional Playwork workforce.
This is an encouraging response to all those with a stake in Playwork and a ringing endorsement of the role that skills and qualifications have in improving quality of services, productivity and relations with children, young people and their parents and carers.

Moreover it is recognition of the value of individual Playworkers’ contribution in playwork settings.  Training results in a sense of job satisfaction, outward recognition and presents scope for career progression in the Children’s Workforce. Professional, well-trained playworkers are a key part of the children’s workforce.

SkillsActive was delighted to take part in National Apprenticeship Week in February. It was a week long celebration of all things Apprenticeships, launched by the LSC to promote the programme across the country. For the second year running we engaged with colleagues to host a number of events across England that demonstrated the skills, expertise and commitment of apprentices within our sector.

What was particularly heartening was the reaction and willingness of employers who were extremely keen to get involved by hosting an event or attending one. I believe this demonstrates how far we’ve come with Apprenticeships within our sector. The respect that they have gained by employers is a testament to the programme itself, and the calibre of apprentices that we now have working and studying within the sector – over 4,000 of them.

Apprenticeships have a crucial role to play in workforce development for all sport and leisure employers – they deliver the qualifications which employers are looking for, they keep staff engaged, committed and loyal in an industry renowned for high staff turnover, they bring in public funding alongside employer investment, and above all else they give people a structured and relevant learning programme which will give them longevity in the sector and a career for life. In fact since its inception in 2005, the Young Apprenticeship programme has rapidly grown from a small pilot to attracting over 15% of Young Apprenticeship funding across all sectors which equates to over 1200 places nationally – which is an phenomenal achievement.

From demonstrations by young apprentices on the sports management, leadership and coaching programme, to the next wave of potential gold medallists and professional sports men and women on the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence, I believe the week went a long way to promoting the sport and active leisure sector and its importance on a national scale.

With the English National Apprenticeship Awards coming up in July, I am really keen that we build on last year’s success of having apprentices from our sector nominated for Awards, with two of them actually winning. I was delighted to witness Luke Power, a young man from Greenwich, London win the Young Apprentice of the Year Award, and Mark Brookes from Solihull be Highly Commended in the Personal Achiever of the Year Award – the first time for our sector. I would urge all employers to get involved with this year’s Awards and get nominating their apprentices. Winning awards really demonstrates the vital role our sector plays in the health and well-being of the nation, not to mention its contribution to the economy as a whole – particularly important in these unstable times.

For more information about the 2009 National Apprenticeship Awards visit: www.apprenticeships.org.uk/awards

Following the video we made about the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence, we’ve now got even more video content available on our main website covering each type of apprenticeship that we’re involved in. So now if you visit our Apprenticeships section on our website you’ll find videos on the Young Apprenticeship scheme and the Apprenticeship in Active Leisure and Learning, including videos covering the Advanced Apprenticeships in Coaching, Fitness and the Outdoors.

The videos feature both employers and students talking about the schemes and the benefits that apprenticeships have to offer.

We’ve also uploaded a number of our older videos on the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence to complement the one we made back in February, and you can see these below:

Hopefully these video’s will help prospective employers and students understand the different apprenticeship schemes and how they offer an innovative work based education experience. For more information on all our apprenticeship schemes, visit the apprenticeship pages of our website.