CIMSPA establishes new Professional Development Board and Committees
Coaching

Since 2015, CIMSPA has supported the sector by bringing employers together with lead agencies, sports councils, governing bodies and education providers to support the sector to be one which everyone wants to be part of.

A fresh approach to workforce governance

We’ve had great success with our Professional Development Board:

• Overseeing the creation of a single standards framework with 40 professional standards developed. This covers all the sector’s core occupations across all five industries – with consultation from over 1800 organisations and 460 people having attended a Professional Development Committee.
• Providing leadership for the partnership between CIMSPA and over 150 of the sector’s employers, who have committed to recruiting and deploying their workforce in line with the professional standards and single qualification structure.
• Over 200 independent training providers and 14 awarding organisations have helped develop and sought endorsement for 103 qualifications aligned to professional standards – with over 1200 endorsed CPD products.
• Approving the alignment of Pearson’s BTEC qualifications to the sector’s professional standards. Over 40,000 students studying in further education have the skills and competencies employers need.
• Ensuring the development of a sector-wide CIMSPA Higher Education partnership with 25 universities offering 45 degrees aligned to the professional standards. This means graduates have the employability skills employers need.
• The development and oversight of a sector wide apprenticeship roadmap with six new sector-specific apprenticeship standards available for employers to access.

In 2020, the sector’s Professional Development Board asked CIMSPA to review how they operate and agreed a refresh was needed. With a large and diverse sector, we have decided that the Professional Development Board needs greater home country representation and new committees to give everyone the opportunity to have a say in the policy decisions made by the sector for the sector.

There is now a Scottish Professional Development Board and will be four professional development committees in line with the five* industries that make up the sport and physical activity sector.

• Exercise and fitness
• Leisure operations
• Professional sport
• Community sport

*Health and Wellbeing is a defined industry but its outcomes are delivered through the four established industries above.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE COMMITTEES

The Professional Development Board has also been refreshed. Its new Chair is CIMSPA Trustee Jon Argent, Partnerships director at GLL. He is supported by the former Chair Richard Millard, who has worked tirelessly on this agenda for decades. Jon and Rich oversaw the recruitment of members to the new Professional Development Board and the new committees.

WHO IS ON THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT BOARD AND SCOTTISH PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT BOARD?