Saturday 8 June, 2013
Training Summit Summary
The past weekend in Miami saw a passionate and diverse range of opinions coming from training summit participants, all committed to supporting their individual markets along with the desire to evolve the US Pilates training industry – and the Pilates industry as a whole.
The first morning was spent discussing the background to the 2013 PMA training summit. Representatives of PMA registered training organisations had met previously in 2009 and 2011 to collate data gathered from the outcomes of those summits and intermittent surveys, and to follow up on points that had been discussed. Their findings provided the basis for this summit, and their goal was to agree on a “template” for teacher training programs to establish minimum requirements that would offer structure for the current teacher training program description of 450 hours for a comprehensive Pilates training program.
There were representatives from the United States, England, Spain, France, Canada, South America as well as Sally Anderson and myself from Australia. Although the outcome of this process specifically targets the US for now, a number of PMA approved training providers deliver internationally, and a number of countries rely on the PMA for structure within their own industries. Therefore, a number of countries from outside the US were in attendance aiming to set effective training standards in their countries for Pilates teacher training that would parallel the PMA’s proposal, and to offer comment and input to the proposal. From the PAA’s point of view, we needed to ensure that the PAA standards are at least equivalent to those of the PMA’s. Currently, our minimum recommendations for educational bodies sit above the standards being set by the PMA.
The afternoon was spent in discussion with other members of the summit regarding the nitty gritty of the “template” to provide a framework for the instruction of Pilates Teacher training. This template had been primarily developed from a series of surveys that were collated to list the make-up of programs, and offering a “weight” in hours spent on specific topics such as: the history of the Pilates Method, professionalism (industry professional practices), special populations, to name a few. The specific topics themselves had been drawn down from the process since 2009 and were not for discussion – the weight of topics provided the basis of the discussion. Any final decisions were heatedly debated and polarised the room at various stages, creating enough discussion to carry through to Sunday.
Sunday morning began with a presentation of the process of approval of a Pilates program by the Wisconsin Educational Approval Board – a state licensing board – to discuss the problems, procedures, language, etc , of presenting a program for “Licensure” of a Pilates teacher training program in the state of Wisconsin. Licensure is similar in some respects to the accreditation process we have had in Australia at state level. Pat Sweeney from the Educational Approval Board of Wisconsin and Marissa Lins from the Midwest Pilates Institute co-presented and led the discussion, which was refreshingly clear and direct. Those attending were led through the stages of requirements of an acceptable course, the application process, approval and what to expect. There was opportunity for Mr Sweeney to answer questions that flowed in and were answered comprehensively and with flair.
The remainder of the Sunday morning required final discussions and ultimately voting on the template, which was again discussed heatedly down to the wire by all participants. A resolution was reached, to the relief of all, so the summit concluded with a real sense of achievement and the knowledge that progress was made. We finished the day with final catch ups and informal discussions with others that we’d already met and introductions to those we hadn’t.
The outcomes of the summit will be available on the PMA website shortly, and any reports will be e-mailed through to us to be passed through to you. It is always recommended that we maintain a global perspective on the instruction and teacher training methods of the Pilates industry, so I would recommend that you visit the PMA website: www.pilatesmethodalliance.org for further information.
Lanette Gavran
PAA President
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