Fitness Education in New Zealand

The nationally registered qualifications in fitness have been re-worked by the standard setting body for fitness from 2003-2006.  The new framework of qualifications are designed to represent jobs within the industry and the skills within those jobs.  Many of the unit standards were new in 2007.

The unit standards are now heavily vocationally focused.  That is, they are aimed at training  and assessing students in the tasks within the job not the broader or more generic skills that are used across many industries.  This 'real world' focus on performance means a candidate has to be able to do the thing, in the way, at the time and in the place that they would usually have to do it in the job. 

Currently there are over 80 other fitness qualifications available in NZ.  The vast majority are regional qualifications registered by education providers with a justification that the particular qualification they have designed meets the unique regional needs of their fitness operators and students.  This has resulted a wide and varied scope of qualifications and some confusion as to the national standards of performance preferred by fitness industry employers.