CIMSPA’s interim development director Spencer Moore led a workshop at the Association of Colleges’s “Sport in the Curriculum Conference” in Loughborough in January 2015.

1. Spencer Moore – Director of Development
Rebecca Ward – Education and Membership Manager
It’s a two way street ……

2. Who are we:
• Launched in 2011, from the merger of ISRM and ISPAL - CIMSPA is the professional
development body for the UK’s sport and physical activity sector.
• CIMSPA was awarded chartered status by the Privy Council, which came into effect
at the start of January 2012.
• CIMSPA provides leadership, support and empowerment for professionals working
in sport and physical activity and a single unified voice for the sector

3. The workforce:
• It is estimated that 66% of the leaders and managers working in our sector
are qualified at Level 3 or above
• Of that 66%, less than 50% have had any management training
• Less than 5% of the leaders and managers in our sector have undertaken
any formal personal development in the last 5 years
“If we are to grasp the opportunities in front of us, we have to start to take ourselves seriously
both as a sector and as individuals. We need clear standards for professional development,
clear career pathways to enable us to recruit and maintain talent into our sector, employers who
recognise the value of on-going professional development and most of all - a workforce that
take responsibility their own personal development” - 2010

4. Long term vision

5. • CEO
• Director / Head of
• Contracts Manager
• Regional Director
Band A
• Centre Manager
• Operations Manager
• Sport Development Manager
Band B
• Duty Manager
• Team Leader
• Supervisor (fitness / sales etc.)
• Sport Development Officer
Band C
Job Bands – Indicative Roles

6. B
C A
Moving through your CIMSPA
Membership
Chartered Member
Chartered Fellow
Associate
Student
/Apprentice
Member

7. What do employers want?
1. To create a single qualification structure led by employers
• Apprenticeship Trailblazer – Leisure Management / Personal Training
2. To support a single vehicle for the endorsement of quality assured training
• Development of A Professional Development Framework
• Partnership with Awarding Organisations
3. To use the single vehicle to establish a network of training providers, be they commercial
providers, FE Colleges or HE Institutions, all committed to delivering endorsed training
• Skill Development Partnership
4. To ensure that the continuum of training provision is extended into Higher Education and
Further Education with graduates possessing the correct skills for the workplace
• Support in the development of FE qualifications; Guest Speakers; Quality Work placements /
Placements; Group Mentoring; Buddying

8. Employer Support
By September 2016 CIMSPA will have 250 employers / c1800 facilities in
Partnership
Employers will work with CIMSPA to:
• Define job roles and career pathways within the sector
• Develop knowledge, skills and behaviours for each job role to include any approach to common units
In return
• No CIMSPA – No Job
• Following the CIMSPA Professional Development Framework for CPD
• To only buy training from CIMSPA Skill Development Partners, awarded by CIMSPA Endorsed Awarding
Organisations
• Buddy with their local FE / HE establishment

9. Good Practice – South Devon College
An annual event with local employers
• What opportunities / funding the college has for employers (Apprenticeships, discretionary
funding for general CPD, how the college and employer can work together to facilitate work
placement opportunities)
• What employers are looking for from the college – what are the current needs of the sector
• Case studies from leisure businesses on how they have engaged with the college and the
outcome of this
• Presentations from current and ex-students on how they have progressed in their careers and
the role of the college and employers in this

10. What are we doing to help?
CIMSPA / AoC Partnership
• FE Endorsement
• Identification of guest speakers / mentors from CIMSPA membership
• Employer / FE buddying programme
• Working with employers working with AO’s on the work placement units
• Flexible Apprenticeship options for SMEs
• FE places on Regional Boards
• FE memberships of CIMSPA
• Links with HE

11. Student Affiliate programme
• Launching Sept 2015
• Access to CIMSPA library and resources, currently in member area of CIMSPA
website
• Electronic copy of S&PA Professional, CIMSPA’s magazine produced four
times a year
• Student CIMSPA newsletter
• E mails of sector jobs
• Student conferences