Ask anyone and they’ll tell you that my motto is there has never been a better time to work in the sector and despite the economic climate, I stand by that. The health and fitness sector offers so many opportunities at so many different levels. The list is long and includes community cohesion, breaking down cultural barriers, addressing the physical activity agenda, raising participation and even identifying sportsmen and women of the future. So why wouldn’t you want to be a part of that?

Academic qualifications aren’t necessarily the route to entry though, the fact is that employers in the sector need recruits with vocational qualifications; these are certainly the bread and butter of the fitness industry, and what employers look for when they are recruiting new staff. And with budgets slashed and funds depleted, it is more important than ever that we ensure employers are doing all they can to attract, train and keep the right people working in the sector if it is to not only continue to weather this storm, but continue to develop, grow and thrive.

With this in mind, we have just launched the 2009 Working in Fitness survey for all those working in the health and fitness sector. The survey gives an insight into how the fitness sector rewards its workforce by examining salary levels, job satisfaction and spending on training and development. We know through our previous research, and despite the economic downturn, that there are an average of 8,500 job openings a year in the sector, to meet staff turnover and the creation of new positions. And one of the survey aims is to find out whether the industry is doing enough to attract new, as well as retain existing staff, to meet these demands.

The sector needs to retain a skilled workforce, and the Working in Fitness survey allows us to assess what employers are doing to encourage and support their staff development. Reward in terms of salary is always going to be an issue for the sector, but recognition need not be. Past results have indicated a pat on the back, support with training and encouragement for personal and professional development is sometimes all staff need to be satisfied in their role.

The survey allows us to get a good representation of jobs in the sector and to identify issues at a local level and where improvement is needed. Past results has informed the way we work with training providers, public and private, the way in which we’ve developed the new Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF), and our ongoing development of national occupational standards – which inform training courses, qualifications and job roles in the sector. So you can rest assured we’re not just filing away the results in a drawer, they are informing the way we do business!

Increasing the number of people participating in physical activity and adopting an active lifestyle is the key to the health and well-being of the nation, and is an agenda shared with governments across the UK. We’re doing our upmost to ensure the workforce is skilled, professional and highly qualified.

To complete the 2009 Working in Fitness survey visit: www.skillsactive.com/wif09. 

In response to the news that councils are ignoring the ‘compensation culture’ and investing in more adventurous play, here at SkillsActive we are pleased to see that the government and councils are beginning to understand the benefits of play and playwork.

However, we would encourage that those facilitating playspaces are qualified playworkers as they are best placed to aid the opportunity for young people to experience risk in a broadly safe environment.

We are currently engaged in a project to fund 4,000 playwork professionals up to Level 3 and have recently launched a tool to help playworkers find appropriate training, so there are opportunities to ensure the provision of skilled playworkers to deliver more adventurous play schemes.

With over 5 million volunteers involved in our sector, and the requirement for 70,000 volunteers in the staging of the London 2012 Olympics, the Personal Best programme has a key role in developing the skills of our voluntary workforce.

Today the Guardian ran a piece, Fresh start to Olympic dreams, focussing on the opportunity for disadvantaged people to gain training and a chance to get involved in the 2012 games. As the Guardian points out, the scheme aims to tackle social exclusion, particularly by attempting to attract people from a black or minority ethnic background, those with a disability, lone parents, women returning to the workplace and individuals with health conditions.

This programme isn’t solely London focussed however, and SkillsActive are heavily involved in helping develop this programme, and its roll-out across the country.

The North East of England was the first region outside London to launch the programme back in March, with Jonathan Edwards CBE, Olympic triple jump gold medallist and world record holder, on hand to support the initiative as you can see below. 

Jonathan Edwards launches Personal Best in the North East

More videos from Personal Best in the North East can be found on the LSC North East Youtube.

The South East of England also offers the programme, and other regions will soon follow. You will be able to keep updated on the development of Personal Best through our website section at www.skillsactive.com/personalbest

If you are looking to get involved with Personal Best,  the best port of call for Londoners should be the Personal Best website while elsewhere you are advised to go through the local JobCentre Plus or by contacting one of the regional LSC leads, who are:

• South East: Suzanne.Aldridge@lsc.gov.uk
• North East: Eleanor.Porter@lsc.gov.uk

If you’re a coach or leader working with young people, you’ll often find that there are two things standing in the way of your personal developement – time and money. The SkillsActive and Nancy Ovens Bursary could help with those by offering funding of up to £2000 for anyone working across the Active Leisure and Learning Sector to enhance their skills and knowledge in a way that traditional training courses cannot provide.

This can often be achieved by taking part in studies, work experience or activities outside of their day-to-day job, with previous applicants shadowing the best coaches in their chosen field or using the money to pay for cover in their day-to-day job so that they can volunteer elsewhere.

We’ve just produced a few new case studies of some of last year’s successful applicants, which you can download below:

• The first case study looked at aspiring basketball coach Ben Foster spent the summer in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA, coaching at various summer camps with Doug Noll, a top former player and assistant coach, who runs a worldwide basketball academy.
  
• The second case study looked at hockey coach Duncan Parnis travelled to Australia over the summer; here he took part in two projects, a coaching project at a successful Australian Hockey club, and ‘The Refugee Sports Project’ which helps children from war torn countries such as Sudan, Somalia and Afghanistan who find refuge in Australia.
• Finally, the third case study looks at how Nigel West spent three weeks in California in a bid to learn from some of the country’s top coaches. Despite having 22 years coaching experience, Nigel is always looking to develop his skills and the bursary presented the best opportunity to continue his personal development through a unique learning experience.

As you can see from these, and the other bursary recipients from 2006 and 2007, this is a really unique opportunity to develop a truely individual learning experience – it is these well thought out and unique experiences that the judging panel look for.

In previous years the majority of our applicants, and all of the recipients, have come from the sporting sector. Coaches from a variety of sports have benefited by learning from the very best coaches in their sport, and to do so have travelled worldwide in search of personal development. This year we’re keen to attract applicants from some of our other sectors, in addition to top coaches, who could equally benefit from learning from the best in their field, whether it be in the outdoors, playwork, health and fitness or caravans.

As such, we’ve been running a series of articles on how applicants from each of these sectors might chose to develop their skills in Playwork, the Outdoors, Caravans, Sport and Recreation and Health and Fitness.

The closing date for applications for the SkillsActive and Nancy Ovens Bursary is 12 May, so applicantions need to be made quickly. Find out more at www.skillsactive.com/nancyovensbursary