Golf Stand Project - European Occupational Standards for Golf

The European Occupational Standards for Golf project (GOLF STAND) has been developed with the main objective to produce a range of indispensable European occupational standards aiming at defining the competences, skills and knowledge needed for those working in the sector as golf professionals.

These developments will:

• Improve the recognition of competences and qualifications in the golf sector
• Further enhance the recognition and re-evaluation of the standards set by the PGAs of Europe embracing an EU-wide competence-based, learning output framework;
• Promote a transparent and flexible education and training system with clear learning and career pathways
• Ensure the development of a competent workforce with the right skills and competences in line with the expectation of the labour market and facilitate the movement between education and employment
• Develop mobility, transparency and mutual trust of qualifications
• Provide a clear Occupational Map and descriptions for the golf industry

The release of the Golf Stand Project Outcome documents marks the culmination of the two-year project. Golf Stand has created a range of indispensable European occupational standards aimed at defining the competences, skills and knowledge needed for those working in the sector as golf professionals.

Golf stand is the working title, which in full reads The European Occupational Standards for Golf, promoted by Skills Active, with the strong support of The PGAs of Europe and the European Observatoire of Sport and Employment (EOSE). The 16 partner strong consortium brought together national and EU organisations from ten different member states involved in the golf, wider sports and education sectors. Golfing bodies included, the PGAs of GB&I, Sweden, Germany and Italy, Netherlands Golf Association, the European Golf Course Owners Association, Club Managers Association of Europe through the Association of Golf Course Managers of Portugal and FEGGA through the Slovenian Greenkeepers’ Association. Public authorities concerned with education and sport were also represented in the partnership, with the national qualifications authorities of Scotland and Malta along with the University of Birmingham and the national sports schools of Sweden (Boson) and Finland (Vierumaki).

It is anticipated that the Golf Stand project outcomes will assist employers to better identify staffing needs, develop appropriate job descriptions, fine tune the interview selection process and have greater appreciation of the skills, knowledge and attributes that staff are able to bring to a specific work role. This in turn will allow employers to position their staff in an appropriate role to gain maximum benefit for the business and at the same time help employees to engage in satisfying work.

These documents can be downloaded from the ‘Outcomes’ section of the Golf Stand website.