Network Magazine winter 2015 | Page 38

RECOGNISING PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS A revamped registration system aims to enhance your professional and public profile. WORDS: LAURETTA STACE our clients trust you with their fitness and health. Now it’s time for you to be recognised for your commitment to client safety, industry standards and providing quality service. To achieve this recognition, Fitness Australia has enhanced its exercise professional registration system and overhauled its website, fitness.org.au. Y The Register of Exercise Professionals The enhanced system is based on industry research identifying the four core job roles for exercise professionals, and an acknowledgement that an extensive list of categories was confusing to consumers and other stakeholders like health professionals. The categories are: • Personal Trainer • Gym Instructor • Group Exercise Instructor • Group Exercise Leader. Verifying your knowledge and skills In addition to your registration category, your online exercise professional registration profile will display a new delivery knowledge and skills listing that represents the continuing education you’ve attained over time. Delivery knowledge and skill areas might include settings, activities, population groups or client conditions you’re able to work with, based on your qualifications and continuing education. For example, a GP can find a local trainer who’s registered and has verified knowledge and skills to work with older adults or pre and post-natal women. Categories that are not being carried forward under the enhanced system (Aqua, Older Adults, Children) are now profiled through the delivery knowledge and 38 | NETWORK WINTER 2015 skills listing, as they represent settings or population groups that a registered exercise professional might work with. The delivery knowledge and skills listing is extensive, with over 60 choices, including: • Activities, such as Bootcamp, Strength & Conditioning, Kettlebells training • Setting, such as Aqua, Outdoor • Conditions, such as Diabetes, Asthma • Population groups, such as Children, Older Adults, Women. Registered trainers and instructors can log in to their profiles and add new skills to their CEC Diaries, where they’ll be able to upload relevant documentation as evidence that they’ve completed approved CEC programs and events. This is the first time that registered exercise professionals will have a public profile of continuing education programs they have completed. Lauretta Stace is a leading advocate for the health and fitness industry. As CEO of Fitness Australia, she is on a systematic and strategic journey to raise the profile of the fitness industry, help integrate it within the health sector and ensure that it is recognised for its role in helping millions of people improve their health and wellbeing. fitness.org.au For example, a GP can find a local trainer who’s registered and has verified knowledge and skills to work with older adults or pre and post-natal women.