The EuropeActive EU Affairs team has attended several online events in the last few weeks on relevant topics covering Skills and Education and Health Enhancing Physical Activity policy areas. From the CEN 136 WG2 Fitness Centres meeting earlier this month, moving into the EU Commission Sport Unit Policy Breakfast, and ending up with the Expert Group on Skills and Human Resources guidelines, EuropeActive has activity promoted the great work that has been done so far during these challenging times.
On 8-9 June 2020, the CEN 136 WG2 Fitness Centre meeting took place. Experts agreed on content defining qualifications for fitness trainers and for remote surveillance of clubs. These part 2 standards will be published in early 2021.
The second half of June was quite busy, starting on Monday 15th June with the first online edition of the European Commission’s Sport Unit Policy Breakfast. Despite its virtual format, the event allowed participants to pursue their permanent dialogue with the EC’s Sport Unit, discussing what was achieved in the previous months and what is planned for the future. In this regard, the European Commission mentioned during the Policy Breakfast EuropeActive’s recent #BeActive Hour campaign, as a best practice to raise awareness o of the importance of physical activity for people’s lives.
The next day the Centres of Vocational Excellence webinar took place where the future possibilities for developing thematic partnerships due to the upward trend in the use of digital technologies across the fitness sector were discussed.
Relevant to VET, we attended another event on the 17 June the Live Discussion on Remote Learning: Challenges and Opportunities for the VET Sector posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, that was the second in a series of online round-table conversations between various European Alliance for Apprenticeships (EAfA) stakeholder groups discussing topics of interest about apprenticeships.
Later that week, on the 18-19 June the CEN 453 Experts agreed on the standards for the production, testing and labelling of foodstuffs and supplements intended for sportspeople (to ensure they are free from doping substances). These standards will be completed by early 2021.
Lastly, the 19 June the Expert Group on Skills and Human Resources completed work on guidelines for the qualifications and recognition of sport coaches (including fitness trainers). The guidelines have been published in the Council Conclusions as part of the Croatian Presidency priorities.
Despite their online format, these events and activities allowed EA to keep in contact with its relevant stakeholders and keep promoting the work that has been done throughout this C19 period. For further information, please visit https://www.europeactive.eu/covid19