Why get qualified?

Whether you’re already leading or coaching, or you’re thinking about getting started, getting qualified has many benefits. 

 

To demonstrate your competence to lead others

This has several benefits: 

  1. It gives you confidence; you will have worked hard to demonstrate your competence to your assessors.
  2. It inspires confidence in others, from your employers/deployers and your group/clients.
  3. You have a moral and legal obligation (a duty of care) to be competent if you are leading other people. If you are not qualified, it might be harder to prove that you have met your duty of care if it was ever questioned.

 

For national recognition

Mountain Training qualifications are widely recognised nationally and show others what standard you have reached. This means that once you’re a qualified Climbing Wall Instructor, for example, every climbing wall in the UK and Ireland will know what you’ve been trained and assessed to do. So applying for jobs and the induction process once you’re hired is much simpler. 

 

Our qualifications are endorsed by numerous respected organisations 

Our qualifications are recognised as a measure of competence in walking/climbing leadership by: 

 

  • Health and Safety Executive (UK) 

  • Health and Safety Authority (Republic of Ireland) 

  • Adventurous Activities Licensing Authority (UK) 

  • Coaching Ireland 

  • Ofqual (England) 

  • SQA (Scotland) 

 

Qualifications can be a great route to employment 

Many organisations put our qualifications in their essential or desirable list of criteria when recruiting. This is because they recognise and value the standards we’ve set and because it means they don’t need to create their own training and assessment process. 

 

Our training and assessment courses are also a great way of making connections with others in the sector which may lead to employment or volunteering opportunities. 

 

Being qualified makes getting insurance and funding simpler 

Insurers typically don’t know much about the outdoor/adventurous activities sector so it’s easier for them to understand that you have one of our qualifications than it is for you to prove to them that you’re competent. 

 

Funding applications generally require a very convincing argument and being able to say that your leaders/coaches/instructors are qualified, or are pursuing a national qualification, will add credibility to your case.