Mapping of professional qualifications and relevant training for the profession of ski instructor in the EU-28, EEA and Switzerland Final Report October, 2015 Table of Contents Table of Contents .............................................................................................. 2 List of Annexes included ..................................................................................... 3 1. Introduction .......................................................................................... 4 1.1 Background and purpose of this assignment .............................................. 4 1.2 Structure of this report ........................................................................... 5 2. Scope and methodology of the assignment ............................................... 5 2.1 Scope ................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Methodology ......................................................................................... 6 3. Overview of findings and observations from the mapping exercise ............... 6 3.1 Data availability ..................................................................................... 6 3.2 Requirements and regulation ................................................................... 7 3.3 NQF/EQF level of ski instructor qualifications ............................................14 3.4 Eurotest/Eurosecurity test as integral part of training programmes .............14 3.5 Ski instructors vs. coaches .....................................................................15 3.6 Multidisciplinarity of education and training ..............................................15 3.7 Economic importance ............................................................................16 3.8 Comparison exercise – expression of level differences ...............................17 ANNEXES.........................................................................................................26 September 2015 2 List of Annexes included Annex 1 Belgium .....................................................................................28 Annex 2 Bulgaria .....................................................................................42 Annex 3 Czech Republic ............................................................................51 Annex 4 Denmark ....................................................................................60 Annex 5 Germany ....................................................................................66 Annex 6 Estonia ......................................................................................75 Annex 7 Ireland .......................................................................................76 Annex 8 Greece .......................................................................................87 Annex 9 Spain .........................................................................................88 Annex 10 France .......................................................................................94 Annex 11 Croatia ..................................................................................... 103 Annex 12 Italy ........................................................................................ 111 Annex 13 Cyprus ..................................................................................... 116 Annex 14 Latvia ...................................................................................... 117 Annex 15 Lithuania .................................................................................. 120 Annex 16 Luxembourg ............................................................................. 124 Annex 17 Hungary ................................................................................... 125 Annex 18 Malta ....................................................................................... 133 Annex 19 Netherlands .............................................................................. 134 Annex 20 Austria ..................................................................................... 143 Annex 21 Poland ..................................................................................... 152 Annex 22 Portugal ................................................................................... 158 Annex 23 Romania .................................................................................. 162 Annex 24 Slovakia ................................................................................... 168 Annex 25 Slovenia ................................................................................... 175 Annex 26 Finland ..................................................................................... 183 Annex 27 Sweden .................................................................................... 189 Annex 28 United Kingdom ........................................................................ 195 Annex 29 Iceland .................................................................................... 206 Annex 30 Liechtenstein ............................................................................ 207 Annex 31 Norway .................................................................................... 208 Annex 32 Switzerland .............................................................................. 215 September 2015 3 1. Introduction This document presents the Final Report under the Framework Contract DG EAC, on the preparation of a mapping/an inventory of existing professional qualifications and relevant training for the profession of ski instructor in all 28 Member States, EEA countries and Switzerland. 1.1 Background and purpose of this assignment Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications (as amended through Directive 2013/55/EU in November 2013) forms the background to this assignment. The Directive has introduced the possibility to set up ‘common training tests’ (CTT) as one new pathway to automatic recognition of qualifications. In this context, there are plans to introduce such a ‘common training test’ for ski instructors, in order to provide them with the opportunity, through a controlled way of access, to practice their profession in skiing destinations across the EU, in particular the Alpine region. Such CTT for alpine ski instruction would consist of a speed test and a safety test. It thus does not cover the teaching skills of ski instructors. However, it will be important to provide reassurance to Member States that individuals who are eligible to take the CTT will possess the required teaching skills. The objective of this assignment has thus been to produce a mapping of ski instructor qualifications and training across countries. This should inform any future work on determining the conditions to be met by ski instructors (i.e. their required level of training) in order to be able to take the CTT. The case of ski instructors is particularly interesting in this context. Each year, a large number of ski instructors from across Europe strive to offer ski training in one of Europe’s alpine regions. British ski instructors, for example, might want to offer ski training to British tourists vacationing in the French Alps. In 2012, already before the amendment of the Directive, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been agreed on by nine Member States, to establish a pilot project for a professional card for ski instructors. These Member States were: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy1, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom. Slovenia and the Czech Republic joined the MoU in 2014. The MoU was intended to substitute and ease complex and detailed national requirements for the recognition of professional ski instructors. In any of these countries, ski instructors who hold the highest ski instructor qualification and have successfully taken two specific tests (‘Eurotest’ and ‘Eurosecurity test’) could obtain a pilot professional card in their country of origin. Since the MoU was originally agreed on for a limited time only, there are ongoing discussions on applying the newly created possibility of setting up a ‘common training test’ for ski instructor training, to replace the Memorandum of Understanding. It is within this particular context that the present assignment took place. This study aims to contribute to a more in-depth analysis of existing ski instructor qualifications and training in the EU-28, including the perspective of the three other EEA countries and Switzerland. The objective of this assignment is in particular to establish an inventory/mapping of existing professional qualifications and relevant training for the profession of ski instructor in all 28 EU Member States, three EEA countries and Switzerland. The mapping focuses in particular on identifying the different levels of training, and takes 1 The MoU does not apply to the Italian autonomous provinces of Bolzano and Trento. September 2015 4 into account the content and structure of such ski instructor training. The assignment refers to alpine ski instruction only. 1.2 Structure of this report The report is structured as follows: . Chapter 2 provides an overview of the scope and methodology for this assignment. Chapter 3 provides a brief analysis of the key aspects of ski instructor qualifications/training in the 32 countries studied, focussing on selected aspects. The Annex represents the core of this report. It includes the completed country factsheets for the 32 countries