Competencias laborales en el mercado deportivo en Espa & ntilde;a: la opini & oacute;n de los empleadores Labour competences in the Spanish sports market: the opinion of employers

The Spanish sports sector has to adapt to changing labour conditions (especially after the pandemic) to respond to new social expectations. However, to date there are no studies on the competences its workers, nor regarding if the former adjusts to this new reality demanding different skills according to roles and the relation to its users. For this reason, the objective of this study was to characterize the competence situation of workers in the Spanish sports sector, identifying their strengths, difficulties, possibilities and training needs. For this purpose, the European Sector Skills Alliance for sport and physical activity (ESSA-SPORT, coordinated by EOSE) project was developed, in which a survey for employers in the sports sector, identifying needs, development, trends and perspectives on workers' skills was designed and implemented. 111 employer institutions participated in Spanish, of which 39,62% corresponded to for-profit organizations, 14,15% to NGOs, 39,62% to public institutions and 6,6% to others, plus 83,6% of respondents were male, while 14,6% were women. Thusly, the researchers conducted an exploratory and descriptive study, where employers highlighted as key skills for professional practice: ensuring the integrity of users, behaving according to ethical codes and demonstrating management skills, while they indicated the need to improve skills for working with people with disabilities. The main barrier they indicated for the acquisition of skills were the limited supply of training and its costs. This research revealed that the competence situation of Spanish sports workers needs to be harmonized from the coordination of workers and employers, the ability to access updated and certified as well as the of skills in favour of inclusion in services.