Continuing Education Scheme

Fitness Australia's Continuing Education Scheme

The Continuing Education Scheme provides professional development programs for industry professional in a variety of specialisation fields. The programs help keep the fitness industry informed and up-to date. Education and Training Providers can apply to have their programs approved by Fitness Australia.

The role of the provider is to deliver professional development programs that offer Continuing Education Credits (CECs) required to maintain registration as an exercise professional with Fitness Australia. To receive approval, the program must have relevance and value in maintaining the skills required by Exercise Professionals.

Programs may be delivered in a variety of modes so that exercise professionals around Australia can have access to continuing education.

  • Face-to-face programs are the 'traditional' education delivery method. This may include seminars, workshops, conferences, conventions etc.
  • Distance and online programs are delivered without a presenter but may employ a number of different methods of delivering the information. This can include online learning tools, correspondence programs, DVD's, magazine exams etc.

Organisations and individuals wishing to run programs for CECs must first apply to Fitness Australia for approval. Once approved, the program is automatically approved for delivery in all States and Territories and approved for CECs by Fitness Australia.

A program is approved for a period of two years during which the program may be delivered as often as the provider chooses. If the provider wishes to continue to offer the program after the expiry of the initial 2 year period, you can apply for your program to be renewed, provided that no changes have been made to the content and delivery of the program. If changes have occurred then the program will need to be re-submitted for approval.

Business Details

The information is used on the Fitness Australia website once a program is approved for delivery. The key contact details are for Fitness Australia's use so that you can be contacted directly if we have any questions or queries regarding your program or application. Fitness Australia regards the applicant as the holder of the copyright to the program.

Program Details

This is general information about the program.

  • The program name will be listed on the Fitness Australia website and recorded on a database. Once submitted, the course name may not be changed until the approval period expires. You can however fill out an application form to change the name of your program. This will incur an additional administration fee.
  • Providers need to indicate who the presenters and assessors are for the program. For each presenter, a comprehensive CV must be submitted and for the assessor they must also include their CV as well as their Certificate lV in Training and Assessment.
  • Providers need to indicate which category their program falls under. Please select the most relevant topic. For example, if you were to submit a program on Boxing, you must select the activity named Boxing. Occasionally there may be more than one box that needs to be ticked.
  • There may be pre-requisites for the program as defined by the course provider. However, in every case, the appropriate basic training is required i.e. for all Instructor level categories, Certificate III plus the relevant specialty, for all Trainer levels, Certificate IV plus the relevant specialty and a Diploma in Fitness for Fitness Specialist categories.
  • Providers need to indicate the cost to enroll in the program.
  •  For Face-to-Face programs the length of the program means the face-to-face tuition time. It does not include tea breaks, lunch or assessment time.
  •  For distance and online programs the program duration is the estimated time expected for the average participant to complete the program. Assessment time is not included in this estimate.
  • Providers need to indicate which states they deliver their program in. For distance programs, this will most likely be delivered in ALL states.

It is important that providers leave sufficient time for their programs to be approved. Whilst Fitness Australia makes every effort to process applications quickly, the process can only begin once all the relevant documents have been received. Providers should factor in at least 6-8 weeks processing time when setting the dates for the delivery of the first course. CECs may not be offered in retrospect.

Therefore, if a course is run prior to Fitness Australia granting approval, those participants will not be entitled to CECs for that course

  •  If you are a Registered Training Organisation you do not need to provide the ancillary documentation requested. However, you will need to provide evidence of your RTO status. This could be a copy of the certificate issued by Fitness Australia, or a recently downloaded statement from the NTIS web site. (Please refer to the Fitness Australia Approved Program Checklist.
  •  If you are not an RTO you will be required to provide all documentation listed.
  • If this is the first course you have submitted, or it has been more than 12 months since your last submission, you will need to submit full documentation listed.

You do not need to resubmit the ancillary documentation if you have recently submitted a program for approval with Fitness Australia. You will be required to re-submit the Certificate of Currency for your insurance if this has been renewed since the last submission. If your application is an initial application for a new program please indicate this. If your application is for re-approval of a previously approved program please give the previous CEC code.

The following information is designed to assist providers with the application process. Please read this information together with the application form. If there are any unanswered questions, please contact Fitness Australia.