Back in 2005 the then Department for Education and Skills published the ‘common core’ – a document outlining the skills and knowledge required when working with children and young people in a variety of settings. This set of skills and knowledge covered areas such as effective communication and engagement, child and young person development, safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child, supporting transitions, multi-agency working and sharing information.

As outline in the 2020 Children’s and Young People’s Workforce Strategy published in 2008, the Department for Children, Schools and Families announced a ‘refresh’ of the common core to examine the content and extent of implementation of these skills and knowledge, bring it up to date and making sure it is relevant, user-friendly and used by more people in the children’s workforce.

The Active Leisure and Learning Sector is one of the biggest sectors working with children and young people. Playwork aside, sport, fitness and the outdoors all have participation from children and young people and specific targets to get more of them engaged with physical activity and the outdoors. This is particularly relevant through the government’s specific social cohesion, obesity and grassroots agendas – engaging children and young people are high on the agenda at every level.

Through our role of ensuring we have the right people with the right skills to deliver across the active leisure sector, we have made sure that the current common core principles are embedded within national occupational standards – the competencies that job roles are based on. Meaning that those working in the sector should have the skills, qualification and knowledge required to do so. However, as the sector develops, so must the skills and training of the workforce. With this in mind, SkillsActive is working with key partners across the children’s workforce running a series of consultations to ensure that the common core skills and knowledge are appropriately updated.

It is crucial that employers and practitioners from sport, fitness, the outdoors, and caravan industry’s, as well as the playwork sector, have their say in these consultations, in order to influence the refreshed outcomes and provide a common core which is accessible and meaningful for those working with children and young people in the sector, so they can provide the best possible service for children and young people using their facilities and services.

For more information, or to take part in the consultation process, visit: www.skillsactive.com/commoncore. This is your chance to influence the future of the sector when it comes to children and young people.

As the Registrar of the Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs), I welcome the publication of stories like those of Dawn Elliot (in the Daily Mail) – the 46-year-old mother of four with chronic lower back problems who enlisted the services of a personal trainer but with painful consequences. That’s because Dawn’s experience raises key issues and illustrates just how important it is to ensure your personal trainer or fitness instructor is a member of REPs.

REPs is a register of qualified personal trainers and fitness instructors who have all met agreed National Occupation Standards developed by SkillsActive – the Sector Skills Council for Active Leisure and Learning. More than 28,000 individuals are on the Register – the largest membership based register in the world.

REPs was set up in 2002 to regulate people working in the fitness industry and to safe-guard the health of people like Dawn. The Register has strict entry guidelines developed in partnership with the industry and everyday turns away trainers and instructors who do not meet the standards. However, REPs membership is not a statutory requirement for those working in the fitness industry, which is why stories like Dawn’s are so common. It is true that anyone in the UK can set themselves up as a personal trainer and it is also true that these unregistered trainers and instructors carry out fitness sessions with individuals who may suffer from a range of chronic injuries or even serious medical conditions – all of which can be exacerbated through poorly designed exercise. And although the Register seeks to minimise risk by setting standards, it is not full proof. Like any industry – even the medical profession – there are professionals who act carelessly and fail members of the public. REPs works hard to minimise such cases in the fitness industry and the more aware members of the public are of the Register, the more effective it can become at protecting them.

It is also important to note here that personal trainers are not out to “wreck your health”; in fact, they aspire to do the exact opposite. They help millions of people around the UK everyday get fit, lose weight, reduce stress, rehabilitate and prolong their lives. They contribute to government agendas to combat obesity and they reduce the pressure on the public health purse by improving the health of the nation. Alarmingly, in the past six months the number of people reporting that they never exercise has increased from 11 to 14 per cent and of those that do, less than a third exercise four times a week or more. Furthermore, the percentage of adults who are doing the government-recommended 30 minutes of exercise each session has fallen significantly from 34 to 29 per cent. I believe Tuesday’s article not only misrepresents the fitness industry, but it was irresponsible as well. The media should not be giving Britons any more excuses not to exercise and instead, be encouraging members of the public to be more aware of the skills, qualifications and training required by the people that prescribe them physical activity.

There is no doubt that REPs has been a major catalyst in the professionalisation and up skilling of personal trainers and fitness instructors. When the Register was set up, there was no nationally recognised structure to regulate people working in the fitness industry and to safe-guard the health of people like Dawn Elliot. Now, everyone from highly qualified instructors working with cardiac rehabilitation patients to keep-fit teachers running classes in a village hall can be professionally recognised by joining the Register. It is my vision that all trainers and instructors aspire to gain entry on the Register and that the public are sufficiently aware of those that do not.

I’ve been in Australia for about 10 days now and my trip is awesome!  To say I am learning a lot is an understatement.  All the Australian’s have been so accommodating to me and have looked after me as well as sharing information on their success of swimming.

I first arrived in Canberra on Friday 14^th August and my journey over seemed to never end.  From Bournemouth – Gatwick – Dubai – Singapore – Brisbane, then waited for six hours at the airport for my next flight on Qantas.  I flew then to Canberra and straight to bed when I go to my B & B.  The weekend was rest and recovery and Sunday night I met up with the boys from Parkeon, one of my sponsors, who took me out for a meal in the City.  Canberra is a strange city, it is so incredibly beautiful, but yet so small.  There are a little over 350,000 people living in the city, although I have no idea where they were, as it always seemed so quiet.  Walking round the city I wondered how all the businesses could be sustained with sales and paying out rent, rates, stock etc.

On Monday my first meeting was with the Australian Institute of Sport.  It was a little out of the city in an area where there was plenty of land.  The place itself is huge, offering tours round the facility with athletes for the tourists that come and visit.  Athletes can live on site for short or long stay, they can also study at university and use the facilities whenever they like.  However in order to receive this kind of treatment they have to be on the Australian World Class Program.  Dave Pease met me and kindly showed me around the Aquatic Research & Testing Unit, a place where they have developed all their own technology and use it to analyse the swimmers.  It truly was sensational and I can see how and why their swimmers are at the forefront of the sport – for the time being anyway. 

I had the opportunity to chat with Dave and he answered many questions and concerns for me about swimming in the UK, however I must add with Michael Scott on board at British Swimming, I really think we are going to see massive developments to elite swimming in the UK.  This is something the Aussies are concerned about as many people who work at the AIS tend to jump ship and come and work in the UK.  After I had finished with Dave he took me to meet Greg Shaw, a senior athlete nutritionist.  Greg spent time with me showing me the structure and support in place for educating swimmers at youth level in nutrition and explained exactly how they do it.  He also told me about a scheme they have running for school children too,  something I was fascinated with. 

After Greg I also met with Julian Jones Head of Strength & Conditioning for the AIS.  This was a very interesting meet for me seeing as one of my main focuses is strength & conditioning.  I showed him an example of a brochure I had given to me, by someone high up in a swimming related company, of exercises to help improve core stability.  When I was given it I laughed and thought it was very poor considering it came from a high level company.  When I showed it to Julian he laughed too and told me that we should keep this document in place for the kids, because it means to them we will never beat them at swimming.  Something I found very amusing.  However, it has now inspired me and also given me the confidence to approach them about doing something much better.  Since coming away from the AIS I have been completely inspired and now have a number of ideas that I am going to implement when I get back to the UK.

The following day I headed out to Swimming Australia where I met with Tim Arnold.  He spent a great deal of time with me explaining about how the sporting structure works in Australia and where swimming fits in to everything.  He was extremely helpful and again demonstrated a fantastic support network for swimming right from grass roots level through to elite.  This to me was valuable information, as before I came to Australia I believed they had a fantastic support infrastructure in place and this was confirmed.

The Wednesday was my last day in Canberra and my flight to Brisbane was leaving at 11am.  This was just enough time to swing on by ABC Canberra Radio Station for my LIVE interview with Alex Sloan.  This was a follow up interview, as I had already chatted with Alex before, although I have to say I wasn’t expecting to go out live on the radio.  However I managed it and coped with it just fine.  On my way to the airport I heard Alex read out some of the text messages that had come in after my interview, which was great to hear as it seems people are interested in what I am up to.

The weather was warm and sunny in Brisbane, 26 degrees to be exact, which is great seeing as this is their Winter.  I picked up a hire car from the airport and then Thursday I headed down the coast to visit Surf Australia, which is tucked away in a fantastic beach resort.  I guess I was expecting to see fantastic things when I got to Surf Australia.  They had told me about their High Performance Centre and after seeing fantastic facilities at the AIS I was expecting a little too much.  Their facilities is just a 25m swimming pool and a large gymnasium that’s open to residents, as well as elite surfers. 

Having said that, I shouldn’t put them down, because what I found out about them is that they too have a fantastic structure and network in place for surfers from learn to surf through to World Class Athletes, and what they do is incredible, seeing as they get very little funding.  Because surfing is not an Olympic sport their funding is massively reduced and they still manage to produce the some of the best surfers in the world.  I picked up what I needed from here and will pass back to the British Surfing Association.

On Friday was another meeting, however this time with the Queensland Academy of Sport.  Well what can I say truly lovely people and again amazing facilities.  I was shown around their centre and their rehabilitation unit, which again is second to none.  They have some of the world’s finest athletes who come through their centre and what they do for these athletes is inspirational.  They help them get back on their feet either after injury or if they need to find work or study.  The QAS work closely with the athletes and are always there for them.  Something I felt was commendable. 

Whilst there I met a young male long jumper who will be at the next Commonwealth Games and also a female High Jumper who should be at the London 2012 Olympics.  I was introduced to a great guy who is Head of Strength & Conditioning for the Queensland Swimming Team and I learnt so much from him.  He is a Doctor in his profession and was able to answer my questions of concern about some of my young athletes.  Again a truly inspirational character and a thoroughly nice guy!  Lawrie Fabian showed me around the facilities and passed me a contact for a head coach in the UK, as he felt he would benefit from using the Young Athletes Training Academy, it just so happens this head coach is based at Poole Swim Club.  Right on my doorstep!  Can you believe it I travel 12,000 miles across the globe and am given a contact in my own town? How fantastic is that?  Lawrie should be coming to the UK next year on his own research mission.  Lawrie was telling me that for years all the other countries have admired the Australians success at sport and have often come over and taken back new ideas to implement in their own country.  Apparently the Australians feel they are being left behind, so are running their own research projects now!

The weather this weekend has been scorching hot and I have taken some time out to catch up on work and on my tan   In Queensland they are having a heat wave and tomorrow (Monday) will be the hottest day on record so far.  Tomorrow is a new day and I have a last minute appointment with Swimming Queensland and also a meeting with the editor for the Brisbane Times.  Stay tuned for more info…

Bygglelegeplads/building play yard

In my visit to Denmark, I was able to visit two different free time homes.  Free time homes offer out of school childcare for children. The first free time home was in Aarhus, named Skraenten and was situated down a sandy road (the name Skraenten means a ditch). This free time home was open from 11:00am until 5:00pm and could have 150 children. The facilities available included a large house used more in winter, and a range of outdoor space and outdoor opportunity.

Bygglelegeplads: Inside the childrens play space.

The children came from age seven. Some children were able to make their own way from school and some children were collected from school. Animals and adventure play were prominent characteristics of this free time home.

There were rabbits, goats and chickens that belonged to the children, an area for outdoor cooking,  and across the sandy road an area where the children built with wood and tools, and played in their creations.The children in this provision had a mass of space in which they could freely access, inside the house as well as the outdoor environment. This project was inspirational in the way that they presented after school childcare for children.

Central play room

The second free time home I visited was in Esjberg and was based in school, for around 80 children.  Although the children did not have access to adventure play and animals as in Skreanten, the children had a variety of spaces that they could use indoors and out. The children were able to move to different rooms and levels. Freedom, choice and space to move around were prominent in this free time home also.

From both of my visits to free time homes, it seems to be evident that in Denmark the children have great access to risk and challenge through their ability to use tools and to be in spaces where no adults are present to adulterate their play.  Their play spaces seem to be truly their own.

Younger children's playroom

Back in February we visited Southend to see the AASE Basketball apprentices in action at a training camp and get some footage for the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence Video that we produced for National Apprenticeships Week. Now the AASE basketballers will be basking in the limelight of even more coverage, this time on Sky Sports.

The Extra Time programme visited Southend in June to take in a GB U20 warm up match for July’s U20 European Championships, covering a local school sports basketball competition coached and refereed by AASE players prior to the international game, as well as capturing exclusive interviews with the GB Team’s U20 coach Tim Lewis, and AASE coordinator for Essex Ian Mollard.

You can see the programme on Sky Sports 1 on Monday 17 August at 5pm, with repeats at 7pm on Sky Sports 3 later that day and 1pm (SS3) and 2.30pm (SS2) on Tuesday 18 August. We’ve had a sneak preview, and it is a fantastic feature on the AASE programme and how it is benefiting British Basketball, so watch out for it. If you do miss it, we hope to be able to bring you the footage here on the SkillsActive blog afterwards.

You can see some of the AASE basketball players in action and interviewed in February’s video below, around the 3:50 mark: