4-II. Sport Instructors (Human Resources for Sport)

1. Sport Instructor Qualification Scheme

Japan’s Sport Instructor Qualification Scheme was developed from the qualification system established by the Minister of Education in 1987 (“Assessment Project of Knowledge and Skills of Social Sports Instructors”). This was an instructor development project implemented by sport organizations. Instructors who satisfied the standards determined by the Ministry of Education (currently MEXT) received a so-called “stamp of approval”, indicating that their level of knowledge and skills was officially recognized. Previously, the Japan Sport Association (JSPO) had launched the Instructor Qualification Scheme for each sport in 1977 (which was somewhat similar to the current scheme) with the cooperation of NGBs. There were only about 32,000 people registered for certification till 1988. In 1989, the scheme was revised, and was incorporated into the project authorized by the Minister of Education. As a result, more people were interested in obtaining an instructor qualification and the number of registered instructors exceeded 50,000 in 1994.

With the trends of administrative reforms, since 1996 ministry approval towards any qualification scheme operated by a public interest corporation is required to be in accordance with the Act. This came to be recognized as the “Regulations relating to Assessment Project of Knowledge and Skills of Social Sports Instructors” of the Ministerial Ordinance, specified based on Article 11 (Improvement of Instructors) of the “Sports Promotion Act”. All organizations operating the qualification scheme (including JSPO, NGBs and National Recreation Association of Japan) became the government-authorized qualification providers. However, in 2002 the Cabinet office approved the “Implementation Plan for the Reform of Modalities in the Administration of Public Service Corporations” and abolished the Minister’s responsibility to ensure the legality of examinations conducted by public service corporations at the end of 2005.

After this abolition, the JSPO reshaped their qualification scheme, and has been operating their officially authorized “Sports Instructor Qualification Scheme” ever since. In response to Article 11 (Training of Instructors) of the “Basic Act on Sport”, the Sport Basic Plan (2012) has set the following new policy goals: promoting the training of sports instructors, taking into account the needs of local residents and sports organizations; effectively utilizing qualified sports instructors; training sports instructors that can contribute to the success of high performance sports; and enriching the career paths of top-level athletes and sports instructors.

2. JSPO Sport Instructor Qualification Scheme

Table 4-2 shows the five categories and 18 different types of qualifications, except for “Former Qualifications”, that are offered by JSPO. With the cooperation of NGBs, JSPO provides “Qualifications of Instructors for each Competition” which are intended to train instructors of each sport and are composed of six types of qualifications according to their age and level of skills. To date, JSPO has trained instructors in over 50 different types of sport.

The “Fitness Regime Qualifications” include: “JSPO Sports Programmer” which is a qualification to offer guidance for the maintenance and improvement of fitness to adults; “JSPO Fitness Trainer” which is for professional fitness instructors to provide various basic fitness training at commercial sport facilities; and “JSPO Junior Instructor” which is a qualification to teach children about physical fitness and motion facilitation through play at local sport clubs.

The “Medical Conditioning Qualifications” include the following four qualifications: “JSPO Athletic Trainer” which is a qualification to provide instruction in sports injury prevention and rehabilitation; “JSPO Sports Doctor” to undertake the health care, injury prevention, diagnosis and treatment of athletes; “JSPO Sports Dietitian” to provide nutritional guidance to athletes and enhance their athletic performance; and “JSPO Dentist” has been added since 2015 to diagnose, treat, prevent and research impairment or injury in dental and oral area caused by sporting activities.

The “Sports Management Qualifications” are targeted at individuals who are involved in the management of comprehensive community sports clubs. The “JSPO Assistant Club Manager” is designed to develop staff members who possess the basic knowledge necessary for the management of comprehensive sports clubs, and qualified individuals who are expected to support activities related to club management. The “JSPO Club Manager” is targeting the individuals to improve their management skills including securing and enhancing the effective use of financial resources to ensure the sound management of sport clubs.

In addition to JSPO Sports Doctor qualification mentioned previously, other sport-related qualifications are offered to physicians by Japan Medical Association Certificate of Accreditation for Sports Health Physicians and Japanese Orthopedic Association Certificate for Sports Physicians.

Number of Registered Instructors

As of October 2022, there were 648,537 qualified instructors registered with JSPO (Table 4-2). The number of those registered as “JSPO Sports Basic Leaders” has significantly increased, primarily because of a change in the calculation method. Excluding those Sports Basic Leaders, the total number of certified instructors in 2022 increased by about 33,000 people, when compared to that number in 2019. This was due to recognition of two new categories, “JSPO Coaching Assistant” and “JSPO Start Coach”, since 2020.

By sport, the number of registered instructors was highest for “Football” (41,129), followed by “Volleyball” (19,749), “Swimming” (15,591) and “Softball” (13,095) (Table 4-3).

3. Disability Sport Instructor Qualification Scheme

The Japanese Para-Sports Association (JPSA) has established the “Para-Sports Instructor Qualification Scheme” to train and certify six types of instructors in order to accommodate the participation of people with disabilities in various sport activities. The “Beginner’s Para-Sports Instructor” is to help people with disabilities within the community to integrate sport into their daily lives; “Intermediate Para-Sports Instructor” can provide sport instruction to people with disabilities at a prefectural level; “Advanced Para-Sports Instructor” provides advanced sport instruction to people including people with disabilities and other instructors at a prefecture or region level by utilizing their specialized knowledge and skills as well as advanced teaching techniques; “Sports Coach” is to train and develop specific skills of para-athletes and organizations in certain sport. JPSA also offers qualifications such as “Para-Sports Physician”, who is qualified to work for the improvement of the physical health and performance level of para-athletes from the medical point of view, and “Para-Sports Trainer” to support the safety management and improve the performance level of para-athletes (Table 4-4).