‘Employability skills’ key focus of Northern Ireland health and fitness seminar

Lee Rowberry, SkillsActive - 25/06/09

Brokering Skills Solutions Together, held at the University of Ulster, was a joint partnership between the Chief Cultural & Leisure Officers Association, University of Ulster and SkillsActive – the Sector Skills Council for Active Leisure and Learning.

Some of the biggest names in Northern Ireland’s health and fitness sector attended the seminar, including representatives from local authority leisure centres and Northern Ireland’s further education colleges. During the dynamic brokering skills session, training providers and employers discussed the skills required of new recruits and arrived at a common understanding and definition of the term employability skills within the health and fitness sector. Employers identified tailored solutions to meet their training needs and discovered the skills ladder of flexible training solutions. 

Attendees also heard how the Northern Ireland health and fitness sector is changing in light of new trends and policies, including the emerging Sport and Physical Recreation Strategy. They were reassured to hear that health and fitness organisations across Northern Ireland have all reported a significant increase in gym membership over the past 12 months. 

A number of experts spoke at the seminar, including Ken Belshaw, chief executive of Grafton Recruitment and one of the North’s most successful entrepreneurs. In his speech, Ken encouraged employers to make the most of opportunities surrounding London 2012. “If you are involved in the health and fitness sector, you should be leveraging golden opportunities such as London 2012 to enhance your employability skills. From leisure assistants and fitness instructors to centre managers and policy makers, your goal should be to feature innovative projects as achievements on your CVs.”

Muriel Bankhead, head of research at SkillsActive, also addressed the group, providing a profile of Northern Ireland’s 2012 sport and fitness workforce. Muriel said: “Recent research in Northern Ireland has highlighted the need for more ‘joined up’ working between government departments, agencies and local authorities to deliver the Sport and Physical Recreation Strategy. In particular, people are expecting organisations such as CLOA to be proactive in keeping the leisure industry’s contribution to increasing sport and physical recreation high on the agenda at Stormont.”

Today’s seminar marked a significant year of growth for the health and fitness sector, despite the ailing economy. According to the Fitness Industry Association’s State of the Industry report, the sector not only grew 3 per cent in the period ending 31 March 2009, but revenue reached an all time high of £3.77bn.

SkillsActive chair of the Northern Ireland employers committee, Jim Rose, said: “Historically, training budgets are cut when funding is tight, yet most of us know that failure to invest in education and training is only likely to intensify the impact of economic difficulties.

“The health and fitness sector has proven that a commitment to up-skilling and training your staff is vital if you are to remain competitive.”

SkillsActive chief executive, Stephen Studd, said: “The health and fitness sector is growing despite the recession and this is something we can all be extremely proud of. However, the sector is certainly not recession-proof. If we are to sustain this growth now and in the future, employers need to have a clear understanding amongst each other of the skills required by their employees. This will ultimately ensure the customer experience remains positive and we continue to prevail over economic forces.

“Employability skills is a term often cited by employers as being the single most important attribute they look for when recruiting staff. Today’s seminar will bring clarity to recruitment and will help tailor provision and support our workforce.”