From September 2015 the Professional Standards Committee has taken over the key responsibilities of the earlier named European Health and Fitness Association Standards Council. Throughout the last seven years the Standards Council has been very successful in terms of meeting its key objectives to:
- Monitor the developments across and outside the industry to ensure that the European framework and standards for the fitness sector are fit for purpose and up to date.
- Develop and monitor a work programme for Technical Experts Groups (TEG) in terms of standards development.
- To provide the technical support and structure to ensure the development of the European Register of Exercise Professionals (EREPS) is in line with the standards process.
- To oversee the implementation of the Accreditation of Training Providers Programme
With the ambition of developing a Sectoral Qualification Framework (SQF) to cover all principle fitness occupations being largely complete, it is now accepted that for the next period the emphasis should be on the implementation and dissemination of the products. The new Professional Standards Committee intends to revise and improve the existing standards and to develop new vocational standards that usefully support the development of the sector.
The vision of the Professional Standards Committee is: To be the leading body in developing the occupations and registration of professionals of the European health and fitness sector.
The mission of the Professional Standards Committee is: To develop educational standards for the occupations of the European health and fitness sector, providing the credibility and recognition of this sector by ensuring high, comparable and standardised levels of education resulting in customer satisfaction and to support EuropeActive in getting More People, More Active, More Often.
The strategic objectives of the Professional Standards Committee are:
- Dissemination and implementation of the existing educational standards
- Increased registration of exercise professionals
- Increased accreditation of training providers
- Revision of the existing educational standards plus the development of standards for some new occupations