Professional status is coming soon – here’s what you need to know about this exciting new way to boost your learners’ employability
At CIMSPA, we want to ensure that you are recognised for the great work you do by your peers, employers, the public and professionals in other sectors.
To help make professional recognition a reality for you, we will be introducing professional status in September 2025.
In 2024, we launched the concept of professional status in our strategy, Releasing the Power of our Profession. This is a great place to start in learning more about professional status and how it links to the rest of our work, but to make things easier, we’ve summarised the key things you need to know below.
What is professional status?
Professional status signifies a person’s qualifications, experience and commitment to meeting and adhering to the professional and ethical standards of their occupation. Having a professional status is a way for individuals to show the world that they are a trained and highly skilled professional in their chosen career.
Professional status will make career paths within the sector more visible and easier to navigate, thus retaining and attracting more talent to the sector. As an individual progresses in their career, they will be able to gain new professional statuses that highlight their knowledge and commitment and celebrate their expertise.
A professional status is:
- Earned – by successfully completing learning and development that is aligned to the sector’s professional standards
- Issued – by CIMSPA as a chartered professional body and recognised regulator
- Maintained – through continuous professional development and by being professionally regulated by the CIMSPA code of conduct for members.
How will this benefit education providers?
Professional status will complement the existing benefits that CIMSPA Education Partners receive by increasing the employment prospects for learners on their endorsed courses.
Directly linked to professional standards, professional status is centred around completing quality-assured training that provides the skills and knowledge employers are looking for.
With students able to gain a professional status as soon as they enter their first sector role upon graduation, this will increase confidence in the real-world value of the qualification and the professional standard it is aligned with.
Employers will be using professional status to shape job descriptions, meaning that for advanced courses, education providers can directly advertise that the qualification can support learners to gain a higher professional status and progress in their career.
These progression opportunities are also helpful for younger learners and their parents, providing clarity in how they can continue developing after gaining their initial sector qualification.
Is this different to CIMSPA membership?
Student and graduate members continue to be valued members of the CIMSPA community and benefit from all that we currently offer but will not be eligible for a professional status until they gain a role relevant to their qualification.
For individuals working in the sport and physical activity sector, professional status will form the core of their CIMSPA membership. They’ll still be part of our community of qualified, experienced professionals, but professional status will further support them in gaining recognition of their impact and commitment – from employers, the healthcare sector and the general public.
With clear, defined titles, postnominals and digital assets to display, they will be able to easily assure anyone that they are equipped with relevant, up-to-date knowledge and can be relied on.
How will professional status help learners with their career?
The launch of professional status will support sector professionals to be recognised by employers and allied sectors such as healthcare.
It allows individuals to be celebrated, promoted and easily recruited for the skills and competencies needed in different level roles within the workforce.
Professional status also offers clear and accessible pathways for learners to grow through. By completing training aligned with professional standards – developing specialist skills along the way – and meeting defined criteria, they can take each step forwards with the support of CIMSPA Education Partners.
What professional statuses will there be?
There will be a professional status pathway available to many occupations defined by professional standards.
Practitioner
Requires completion of one occupational professional standard through training aligned with the relevant standard.
Advanced Practitioner
Requires completion of one occupational professional standard through aligned training plus one population, environment or technical specialism professional standard.
Senior Practitioner
At this stage, practitioners will choose to become a Physical Activity and Health Specialist, Children and Young People Specialist or Inclusive Practice Specialist.
They will need to complete additional specialism professional standards through aligned training.
Chartered Practitioner and Chartered Senior Practitioner
Chartered statuses are individually assessed and issued by CIMSPA and show the broadest and highest level of experience, expertise and capability.
Entry Manager
Requires completion of the Entry Manager occupational professional standard through aligned training.
General Manager
Requires completion of the General Manager occupational professional standard through aligned training.
Advanced General Manager
Requires completion of the General Manager occupational professional standard through aligned training and evidence of significant responsibility, professional achievement and distinguished service.
Chartered General Manager
Chartered statuses are individually assessed and issued by CIMSPA, however, to achieve this status, General Managers must evidence that they are established and excellent in their career and move their organisation forwards with success.
Senior Manager
Requires completion of the Senior Manager occupational professional standard through aligned training.
Advanced Senior Manager
Requires completion of the Senior Manager occupational professional standard through aligned training and evidence of significant professional achievement and distinguished service.
Chartered Senior Manager
Chartered statuses are individually assessed and issued by CIMSPA, however, to achieve this status, Senior Managers must evidence that they are established and excellent in their career and have contributed to moving the sport and physical activity sector forwards with success.
As a CIMSPA Education Partner, what will change?
There will be no administrational or financial impact on education partners when professional status is launched.
To take advantage of this new celebration of your learners’ career journey, we recommend including how your course can provide access to professional status in promotional materials.
What next?
We are looking forward to offering you professional status from September onwards and can’t wait to tell you more about how it will help you to attract more learners and support them to gain recognition for their skills and knowledge. We will be sharing more information over the coming weeks, so keep checking our website and social media channels for updates!
In the meantime, if you are not already a CIMSPA Education Partner, why not find out more about our partnership opportunities so that you can benefit from professional status.
