Professional status is coming soon – here’s what you need to know about this exciting new celebration of your expertise
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?
Having a professional status is a way to show the world that you are a trained and highly skilled professional in your chosen career. In occupations described by the sector’s professional standards, there will be one or more professional statuses that indicate the level of expertise and experience you have in that role.
As you progress in your career, you will be able to gain new professional statuses that celebrate your expertise and allow you to explore more opportunities in your work.
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.
Is this different to CIMSPA membership?
For individuals working in the sport and physical activity sector, professional status will form the core of your CIMSPA membership. You’ll still be part of our community of qualified, experienced professionals, but your professional status will further support you in gaining recognition of your impact and commitment – from employers, the healthcare sector and the general public.
With clear, defined titles, postnominals and digital assets to display, you will be able to easily assure anyone that you are equipped with relevant, up-to-date knowledge of your profession and can be relied on. What’s more, you will have access to all your current member benefits such as exclusive CPD opportunities.
Student, graduate, associate and affiliate members will not be eligible for a professional status but will continue to be valued members of the CIMSPA community and benefit from all that we currently offer you and your career.
How will professional status help me to progress in my career?
Professional status offers clear and accessible pathways for you to grow through. By completing training aligned with professional standards – developing specialist skills along the way – and meeting defined criteria, you can take each step forwards with the support of CIMSPA.
Employers will be using professional statuses to shape job descriptions and plan for employee professional development. Getting yours will allow you to gain new roles more easily and be a first step towards increased responsibility in your current role, too.
What professional statuses will there be?
Practitioner
This is probably the most common professional status, designed for those working directly with participants to deliver sport and physical activity services.
It shows that you have a high-quality and up-to-date qualification in your chosen occupation and are dedicated to your professional development and providing the best possible experience to participants.
Advanced Practitioner
An Advanced Practitioner will likely be an experienced professional. To offer a more bespoke service, you also have a qualification that aligns with a population, environment or technical specialism professional standard.
This allows you to go the extra mile, demonstrating that you know the ins and outs of working with women and girls or in a school environment, for example.
Senior Practitioner
Senior Practitioner is a mark of true dedication. As well as being a well-qualified and committed professional, you will have committed yourself to offering services in one or more specialist areas: either inclusive practice, physical activity and health or children and young people.
Your status shows that you have extensive expertise and are able to support participants with complex needs.
Chartered Practitioner
Chartered Practitioner status recognises sport and physical activity professionals who are delivering excellent outcomes for participants while also creating a significantly positive impact on the sector.
By gaining this professional status, you are showing employers, clients and everyone else that you are an expert in your field.
Chartered Senior Practitioner
Chartered Senior Practitioner is the highest level of professional status available in the sport and physical activity sector.
It shows that you are delivering an outstanding service to participants and are leading the way in influencing positive change in the sector.
Entry Manager
Entry Managers work in first-line management positions, using their relevant qualifications and/or experience to deliver high-quality sport and physical activity services for participants.
This professional status demonstrates your commitment to your professional development as a manager while also achieving excellence and creating impact in your current role.
General Manager
General Manager professional status shows that you are an experienced manager with proven ability to manage the processes for planning and organising quality sport and physical activity services.
Advanced General Manager
Advanced General Manager is a mark of distinguished service in your role – it shows that you have reached a position of significant responsibility and demonstrated great professional achievement in your management role.
Achieving this status celebrates your commitment to progressing your career and delivering excellence in sport and physical activity services.
Chartered General Manager
Showing that you have undergone our chartered assessment process, Chartered General Manager professional status recognises that you are established and excellent in your career.
You move your organisation forwards with success and stand out as a shining example in your role.
Senior Manager
Senior Manager professional status highlights that you take substantial responsibility for people, a portfolio of programmes, projects, operations and/or services to deliver long term organisational success.
It demonstrates your commitment to continual learning and development and delivering impact while leading, planning and implementing initiatives to achieve strategic priorities.
Advanced Senior Manager
As an Advanced Senior Manager, your professional status demonstrates that you are settled and successful in your role.
You are making a clear positive impact on your organisation, the people you are responsible for and the sport and physical activity sector as a whole.
Chartered Senior Manager
Chartered Senior Manager professional status is the pinnacle of achievement as a sport and physical activity manager.
It demonstrates that you have contributed to moving the sport and physical activity sector forwards with success as an established and excellent professional.
Note: Not all professional statuses will be available to all occupations.
How will I let people know about my professional status?
We know that’s important for you to be able to quickly and easily demonstrate your knowledge and skills. To help you do that, we have created a range of assets for you to use to showcase your professional status.
When you are issued with your professional status, you will gain:
A professional status title
Your professional status title will show what your role is, your level of expertise and your specialist knowledge.
You will be able to use this to ensure that clients and employers understand exactly what you are capable of, linked directly to the sector’s professional standards:
- Try using your title in your website or social media bio to show clients that you’re a trained expert. Many other professions such as healthcare practitioners and financial advisors use these to demonstrate their credibility.
- When applying for jobs, your professional status title is an important addition to your CV. Employers will be able to see your skill level and are assured that your qualifications are quality assured – all from a quick glance.
Postnominals
Many established professions, such as accountancy and medicine, use postnominal letters to show that an individual is accredited by a professional body.
You will be able to use yours after your name on social media, your website and business communications to demonstrate that you are a recognised professional.
Depending on your professional status, your postnominals will be one of the following designations:
- MCIMSPA
- FCIMSPA
- MCIMSPA (Chartered)
- FCIMSPA (Chartered)
Accreditation credentials
Your accreditation credentials – which take the form of a digital badge – will offer a verifiable visual representation of your professional status which you can use on your website and social media to showcase your expertise. When you click on them, anyone will be able to see further information about your status and that it is verified and up to date.
How can I get a professional status?
Professional statuses will go live in September, but here is some guidance and actions to consider in the meantime:
Current CIMSPA members
If you are already a practitioner or manager member, the CIMSPA team will issue you a professional status that aligns with your qualifications and experience. To help ensure that we get this right, please make sure that your CPD record and qualifications are up to date in your portal – we want to make sure we acknowledge all your achievements!
Former and future members
If you are not currently a CIMSPA member, it will be simple to apply for a professional status. When the time comes, we will share full instructions, but for now, all you need to know is that we will ask you to submit evidence of your qualifications, CPD and any relevant experience you have. Our team will then take a look to make sure that we assign you the correct status.
Everyone
We want to ensure that everyone who works in our sector has the opportunity to be recognised for their skills, so we will be making sure that there are flexible and accessible opportunities for you to gain a professional status and progress throughout your career in sport and physical activity.
Coming soon
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 gain recognition for your skills and knowledge. We will be sharing more information over the coming weeks, so keep checking our website and social media channels for updates!
