SKILLSACTIVE
What is
SkillsActive?
SkillsActive is the Sector Skills Council
(SSC) for the sport & fitness, playwork, the outdoors and
caravan industries known as the active leisure and learning
sector. SSCs are UK-wide, employer-led organisations that aim
to tackle the skills and productivity needs of their sector. Twenty
five SSCs make up the Skills for Business Network. The
Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) underpins the network and
is responsible for funding, supporting and monitoring the
SSCs.
The SkillsActive sector contributed
£8.6 billion in output to the whole UK economy in 2004 growth
has been almost double that of the UK economy over the last 5
years. The sector is expected to continue outperforming the UK
economy's growth rate until 2014 with output reaching up to
£11.9 billion.
Whilst the whole economy workforce has
expanded only minimally over the last five years, the numbers
working within Active Leisure and Learning have soared with growth
rate four times that of the UK economy.
ACTIVE LEISURE SKILLS ACADEMY GETS
GREEN LIGHT - 18 June 2007
SkillsActive is delighted to announce
that it has won government endorsement for its proposal to develop
a National Skills Academy for the active leisure and learning
sector.
The Department for Education and Skills
has confirmed its decision to back the SkillsActive Academy at a
reception hosted by Phil Hope, Parliamentary Under Secretary of
State for Skills. The announcement came on the day that sector
employers were asked by Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer
and Alan Johnson, Secretary of State for Education and Skills, to
sign a skills pledge, pledging to upskill their staff to ensure the
UKs workforce has at least a level 2 qualification equivalent to
five good GCSEs.
Speaking of the announcement,
SkillsActive chief executive Stephen Studd said: "I am absolutely
delighted by the decision. The Academy will transform access to
learning, specifically to quality learning in the sector for the
current workforce and the new recruits we so need to capitalise on
our growth. The Academy will provide a radical opportunity for the
sector to meet the productivity challenge and to increase
participation in sport. This
decision comes at a crucial time. Active leisure makes a massive
contribution to society as a whole, a healthier nation, the
reduction in crime linked to social inclusion, the number of
volunteering hours required for sport to operate; and with the 2012
Games just round the corner, we are finally getting the recognition
we deserve. The current
provision of education and lifelong learning is not meeting
employer needs. The fragmentation of the training market means that
most employers have difficulty finding a local provider,
identifying vocational provision that meets their needs in terms of
content or schedule of delivery, and ensuring that the training is
quality assured or leads to qualifications. We see the Academy as
the delivery mechanism for the employer-led, reformed national
system of vocational education and training desperately needed by
our sector."
Rather than being bricks and mortar, the
SkillsActive Academy will be led by a virtual website and
underpinned by learning hubs and centres of excellence across
England. Not only does this provide a crucial joined up approach to
training provision, but it also directly addresses specific
regional skills needs.
This regional approach allows
SkillsActive to address the challenges facing a sector with a large
workforce, working primarily across small organisations, and the
huge army of volunteers paid and unpaid. Those businesses and
individuals that cannot identify the right training or commit to
the cost of training will now, through the development of the
Academy, benefit from clear routes to quality learning and come
together ensuring financial restrictions are no longer a barrier to
training.
Studd continued: "Seventy nine per cent
of frontline staff need better customer care skills and 64% of
managers require better business and management
skills. Sixteen per cent of our
36,500 organisations report skills gaps and a massive 54% of all
training is not publicly funded. This puts a significant burden on
individuals to pay for their own training, which commonly, isnt
quality assured. In 2004/05 the
Learning and Skills Council invested £130 million in
qualifications aimed at our sector. Employers invested over
£300m just to deliver essential technical training. The
Academy offers the opportunity to build LSC funding into vocational
training that meets employers needs, and that investment of both
public and commercial funds is coordinated and leveraged for
optimal impact."
Some Key Statistics for the active
leisure and learning sector:
-
At level 1 - more school
leavers entering the workforce.
-
At levels 2/3 - more
workers gaining technical qualifications (29% shortfall currently)
and customer service skills (lacking in 79% of front line
staff).
-
At level 4 - more staff
progressing onto management and leadership roles (relevant skills
lacking in 69% of existing managers).
-
40,000 additional sports
coaches required to deliver the best coaching system in the world
by 2016 (Current estimate from UK Coaching Framework,
2007).
-
Graduates entering the
workforce with the wrong skills.
-
Only 25% of sport and
fitness workforce have a level 4 qualification or
above.
-
Not enough fitness
instructors at level 3 to support sustained increase in
participation.
-
31% of the sport and
fitness workforce with qualifications below level 2.
-
Not enough
apprenticeships being taken up.
-
Not enough skilled
volunteers.
For more information about
SkillsActive please visit the website @ www.skillsactive.com
Page Last Updated: Wednesday 27
June 2007
