The Technical Experts Group

The development of the EHFA standards was undertaken through specially formed committees of experts from across the industry, known as EHFA Technical Experts Groups. Each group was put together by the Standards Council for a defined piece of standards development, and reported its progress back to the council.

The groups did the detailed drafting. Their work was to turn the functional map of the sector and the competence research behind it into statements of learning outcome, at a level of detail that a training provider or an awarding body could build a programme from. That was the part of the work the association could not buy in. The standards had to be written by people who taught the subject, assessed it, or employed the people who held the qualification, and who could say with authority what the occupation actually required.

Members were qualified individuals recruited by the council against published criteria:

• Involvement in the specific field of expertise, with both specific training and practical experience of a minimum of three years.
• A good view of the needs identified in the field, according to the actual and potential jobs and occupations in the industry.
• A relevant background in vocational training and/or a degree in the specific field, whether an academic degree, a certification or an accreditation.
• Two references from recognised experts in the specific field of expertise.
• A good level of communication in English, both written and spoken.

All standards development work was distributed across EHFA members for the widest consultation, and no standard became effective until it was ratified by a specific resolution at the annual general assembly, which usually took place in May. The groups therefore worked to a timetable set by the assembly rather than by the secretariat: a draft could be discussed and revised for months, but the date on which it took effect was the date of the assembly that ratified it.

That timetable is why the standards carry general assembly dates rather than the dates of the documents themselves. It also explains the waiting: a group could be drafted, consulted on and revised over more than one year, and the standard entered force only at the first assembly after the council was satisfied with it.

The group that carried out the review of the EHFA standards at EQF levels 3 and 4 was led by Alfonso Jimenez, chairman of the Standards Council. Its members were:

• Susanne Bjarklund, SAFE, SATS, Sweden
• Richard Earney, Aspria, Belgium
• Ben Gittus, SkillsActive, UK
• Matthias Guett, EOSE, Lyon, France
• Niki Keene, Curves International
• Margarida Manz, Manz Production, Portugal
• Xavier Martins Dias, Les Mills International
• Pernilla Ohlsson, PT School, Sweden
• Maura O Sullivan Ryan, NCEF, University of Limerick, Ireland
• Jean Sadouni, chair of the TEG leaders, EHFA Standards Council
• Richard Van Riel, Fitness First Benelux

The standards that group produced were approved by the general assembly of EHFA on 23 April 2010. The association noted that more than thirty technical experts across Europe, representing the different stakeholders of the sector, had already volunteered to assist with the review and expansion of the standards.

Three further pieces of work were under way by the time the association published this account of the groups.

• The group for the standards at EQF level 2, covering supervised professional practice and oriented especially to supporting the developing industry in central European countries. It was led by Julian Berriman of Premier Global, and its standards were approved at the general assembly of 13 April 2011.
• The group developing a Sector Qualifications Framework for the fitness industry, to offer a single reference framework for the future development and activation of the national qualifications frameworks in each EU member state. It was led by Jean Sadouni, chair of the TEG leaders. Its second meeting was to take place in Brussels on 14 September 2011, attended by a representative of DG Education and Culture of the European Commission.
• Groups developing standards for the population groups the existing standards did not cover: children and adolescents, older adults, and exercise referral. Each was to provide standards at EQF levels 3 and 4 for evidence-based practice by exercise professionals working with that group. Their kick-off meeting was held in London on 5 July 2011.

Part of the strategic plan was also to consider standards at EQF level 5 for special population groups, in the areas of cardiovascular, metabolic, musculoskeletal and mental disorders. That work was to start in 2011. The standards the groups had completed by then are described on the current standards page.