15 Steps to Accreditation

Accreditation was how a training organisation established that its programmes and its assessment actually delivered the EHFA standards. The association set the route out as fifteen steps, running from an application to register interest through to the annual monitoring visit that followed accreditation.

The work at the centre of it was mapping. A provider took the standards for the qualifications it wanted recognised and set out, qualification by qualification, where its own programme and assessment covered the required learning outcomes and competencies. Everything around that claim existed to test it: the submission, the evaluators' review, and the visit.

1. The training organisation completed and submitted the EHFA application form to register its interest in accreditation. The application page records what the form asked for.
2. EHFA sent out the accreditation pack: the Accreditation Process Document (EAD 01), the Mapping Documents (MAP 02 and MAP 03), the Assessment Strategy (EAD 03), the Assessment and Quality Assurance Resource (EAD 02) and the Terms and Conditions (EAD 04). All of them are listed on the documents page.
3. The organisation reviewed all of the documentation, to familiarise itself with the requirements it would have to meet as an accredited training provider.
4. It then worked through the relevant mapping documents, MAP 02 and MAP 03, to establish whether its qualifications aligned fully with the EHFA standards for Fitness Room Instructor, Group Fitness Instructor, Aqua Fitness Instructor and/or Personal Trainer. Programme delivery and assessment both had to map to the relevant EHFA learning outcomes and competencies.
5. That review was expected to take between seven and forty hours, depending on how many qualifications were being mapped against the standards.
6. The organisation completed the Accreditation Process Document (EAD 01) and submitted it with a brief programme overview or syllabus for every qualification it wanted accredited. The overview had to be translated into English before it was submitted.
7. Copies of the practical assessment documentation went in with the submission, also translated into English. They were reviewed alongside the programme overview as part of the initial application, and all of the information provided was treated in confidence.
8. The initial accreditation fee of 900 Euro fell due on submission of the Accreditation Process Document, the programme overview and the practical assessment documentation.
9. EHFA acknowledged receipt of the application within seven days. Evaluators then checked the programme overview and the practical assessment documentation against the relevant standards and competencies, and the review of the submission took place within twenty-one days of receipt.
10. Once the submission had been reviewed, EHFA contacted the organisation to arrange a date for the accreditation visit. Because live practical assessment was sampled on the visit, the date had to coincide with the organisation's scheduled practical assessments. The fee for the visit was 900 Euro per day for each evaluator, plus travel and accommodation expenses.
11. On the visit the organisation made all of its programme delivery and assessment documentation available for sampling, alongside the live practical assessment, and identified which documents aligned to which standards and competencies. Where programmes were not delivered in English, a translator had to be provided for the visit.
12. Afterwards the evaluator completed an accreditation report recommending either that the organisation be accredited or that it was not yet accredited. The report went to the EHFA Audit Committee for approval, and a copy was sent to the organisation within twenty-one days of the visit.
13. Where accreditation was recommended, a confirmation letter followed and the organisation was sent the EHFA logos to use on its certificates and promotional material. Its contact details were placed on the EHFA website as confirmation of its accredited status.
14. Where an organisation was not yet accredited, it received an action plan setting out the actions required before accreditation could be granted and identifying any additional evidence EHFA needed. The evaluator reviewed that evidence when it was submitted.
15. Accredited organisations had an annual monitoring visit, over two days and with one evaluator, to confirm that the organisation still met the criteria for accreditation. The monitoring fee was 900 Euro per day for each evaluator, 1,800 Euro in total, plus travel and accommodation expenses.

The published estimate for the whole process, from initial application to confirmation of accreditation, was three to four months. It depended on the timetabling of the organisation's practical assessments, because the visit had to fall on the same dates, and on how long the mapping itself took.

Fees were published in the Terms and Conditions, which carried the price list (EAD 04). The initial accreditation fee was 900 Euro. The visit was charged at 900 Euro per day for each evaluator, and the annual monitoring visit at the same daily rate. Travel and accommodation expenses were the organisation's cost, and EHFA set its fees on economic zoning, so the price list could show a discount according to the country the organisation was based in. Applicants were directed to that list for the figures that applied to them.

The accreditation unit had also obtained European funding to subsidise the accreditation of fourteen training organisations over a two-year period, with the details published on its own accreditation website.

The questions training organisations asked about the process - on evidence, translation, fees and timescales - are collected on the questions and answers page. The standards that the mapping is measured against are set out under current standards, and their technical custody sat with the Standards Council.