Scotland’s Child Obesity Plan
The Scottish Government is to plough £6m into tackling childhood obesity. The funding aims to help at least 20,000 overweight and obese children and forms part of the Scottish Government’s plans to fight the epidemic. As part of the new initiative, health boards will be tasked with setting up family-focused healthy weight treatment programmes for children aged between 5 and 15.

Making the announcement at an international summit on health inequalities being hosted in Edinburgh, health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: “While the growing problem of obesity – and in particular childhood obesity -– is affecting all sectors of society more and more, we know that the health impacts can be a particular problem in deprived areas. Chronic health conditions associated with obesity, such as coronary heart disease, are prevalent in deprived communities. Yet it is those who are living in less affluent areas who are more likely to find it difficult to access affordable healthy foods and have opportunities to be active.".

National standardised training for fitness instructors
Health and Fitness industry qualifications may become streamlined after a 2-year partnership between SkillsActive, awarding bodies and employers comes to a close, and they deliberate the benefit of using a nationally recognised qualification.

As there is not a set national curriculum for industry training, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) has developed a National Qualifications Framework for a recognised system of assessment. SkillsActive trialled the scheme in collaboration with awarding bodies Active IQ, Central YMCA Qualifications, the Vocational Training Charitable Trust (VTCT) and employers Fitness First, David Lloyd Leisure and DC Leisure. Each body used the same Advanced Fitness Instructing Qualification (level-3 gym, equivalent to an A-level) although they approached the trial in different ways to suit the employers’ in-house training preference. Central YMCA Qualifications worked directly with the employer, while Active IQ and VTCT brought in training providers Performance Training Solutions and Lifetime.

Once the project is rolled out the qualification aims to provide fitness professionals with awards at levels 2 and 3, said Kerry Appleton, strategic manager for employer and provider recognition at QCA. Employers will have a clear understanding of what role, responsibilities both statutory and legal, knowledge and skills that can be expected based on an employees title and length of qualification.
“The idea of SkillsActive’s QCF Tests and Trials Project is to build bridges of confidence between employers and awarding bodies,” said John Thorpe, head of the technology standards unit at SkillsActive. QCF will enable employers to understand the value of the credentials and awarding bodies to be flexible in the way they deliver on-demand assessment.

It will also become part of the Code of Practice for employer members of the Fitness Industry Association to ensure staff are registered with the Register of Exercise Professionals .Matt Coulson, director of Performance Training Solutions, said: “The trial project enabled the working relationship between the employer, the training provider and the awarding body to be tested, as well as the service delivered to employees to ensure a fully accredited and quality course assessed by a training provider which meets the needs of the employer in the most cost effective way possible."

The trial was run alongside an ongoing 8-month research project by SkillsActive’s Technical Expert Group, looking into whether industry standards and qualifications are in line with jobs within the fitness industry. 1 in 5 industry employees say they feel they have not been given adequate training to do their job properly, and employers claim it’s getting harder to find well-trained and qualified staff and it’s believed a centrally agreed training program could be the answer.

REPs Review of Qualifications
SkillsActive and the Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs) have begun the first stage of a review of qualifications structures for those exercise professionals who work with people with specialist needs.  Existing standards state that instructors who work with those specific health needs ranging from back pain to age-related conditions hold appropriate qualifications and are level 3 registered.

These guidelines were introduced with the Register and were based on the premise that the majority of gym users are fit and healthy. However responses from the survey show that both level 2 and level 3 members are working with those currently classified as having specialist needs on a regular basis. In particular of those questioned:

• 82% said they regularly work with older adults
• 78% worked with people with lower back pain
• 74% worked with obese people or people with diabetes
• over 40% worked with people with a disability, pre- or post-natal clients, GP referrals, young people, and people at risk of falling
• more than 30% said they worked with people who had suffered a stroke and with people with mental health problems

Registrar Cliff Collins said: “It is clear from the results of this survey that the reality of what happens on the gym floor indicates a requirement for a more general approach to working with wider groups of people than the national standards provide. The standards for special population training are currently in additional units and some incorporation/recognition of these into the main qualifications would seem to be desirable consideration. Our job is to now work out the best way of bringing the two into line working alongside employers, our members and training providers to ensure that a new, more practical, framework is put into place.”

He added: “Clearly the industry is moving to a more inclusive client-base and our members’ skills and qualifications have to reflect this. We also need to review how specialist populations are defined and make sure their needs are met safely and appropriately. This change won’t happen overnight but thanks to the candid responses of those members who took part in the consultation survey we can work towards ensuring this happens in the most appropriate way.”

With 42% of instructors taking part saying they expect to work with more clients with specialist needs SkillsActive and REPs will now start to put processes in place to work with employers and then training providers to see how the new guidelines can meet their needs too.