Vocational Training

Multi-sport training for professional ski instructors in Austria.

As part of the graduate ski instructor training in Austria, the compulsory subject "Skiing and Alternative Snow sports" includes alpine skiing in addition to alternative snow sports including snowboarding, cross-country skiing and telemarking as well as other current trend sports in the area of "Movement on Snow" (e.g. Freeriding, New School, etc.).

The multi-sport training for snow sports instructors in Austria is regulated by Appendix "15. Skiing and Alternative Snow sports (teaching practices and personal skills)" of Regulation BGBl. II No. 286/2004 by the Federal Minister for Education, Science and Culture. This ensures that snow sports instructors, trained in a variety of sports, will be available in the ski schools to teach in all areas of modern winter sports involving movement on snow. 

Multi-sport training of snow sports instructors in Austria was introduced mainly due to general developments in winter sports and ski teaching procedures. Movement on snow is now practiced in many different ways and with various types of equipment. The needs of the ski school guests are moving increasingly towards diverse types of winter sports. Although the various methods of sliding on snow are always changing, alpine skiing continues to be dominant but the professional ski instructor must also master Nordic skiing including telemarking, snowboarding and the new variants of snow sports (new trend sports such as New School and Freeriding) and must ensure he is able to teach his guest in all categories.

The significance of these developments in snow sport and winter tourism in providing more content and more employment in the ski school sector of winter tourism is very considerable. However, these positive effects can only happen when snow sport instructor training reflects the entirety and diversity of the snow sports. For the economy of a ski school, it is essential that the instructors can be used flexibly during the relatively brief period of teaching time. Only in this way can the demands of tourism be continually fulfilled. Ski schools as "one-stop shops" for all types of snow sports are essential and indispensable for the guests in a tourist resort.

The Austrian Ski Instructing plan as a basis for the graduate ski instructor training incorporating the education and teaching aims “Skiing and Alternative Snow Sports”, ensures that a market-orientated vocational training is offered according to the current developments in alpine winter sports. Thus, the subjects in the category of "Alternative Snow Sports" are reviewed annually according to developments in winter sports and to feedback from guests and, if necessary, new more topical disciplines are introduced.