Coach Education and Continuing Professional Development: Experience and Learning to Coach

Abstract

Research over the last decade has demonstrated that it is experience and the observation of other coaches that remain the primary sources of knowledge for coaches. Despite this, coach education and continuing professional development fail to draw effectively on this experience. Using the work of Pierre Bourdieu, this paper attempts to understand how the "art of coaching" can be characterized as structured improvisation and how experience is crucial to structuring coaching practice. An examination of current coach education and assessment demonstrates that coaching practice viewed as a composite of knowledge has not specifically addressed the pervasive influence of experience on coaching practice. Drawing on experiences from the educational field, we examine how coach education and continuing professional development can utilize mentoring and critical reflection to situate learning in the practical experience of coaching.Until recently, although the importance of coaching to athlete development and national sporting success was increasingly being realized (Sports Coach UK, 2002), there was little agreement as to a future strategic direction for the burgeoning profession. A recent commissioned report ("The development of coaching in the United Kingdom," 1999) brought this situation into stark relief and, subsequently, initiated a process whereby the government-funded Sports Strategy Coaching Task Force recommended the development of National Occupational Standards (NOS) for coaches working within the high performance environment. The QUEST, 2003, 55, 215-230

Coaches’ Perceived Knowledge of the National Standards for Sport Coaches: Insights into Coach Development

“…This is similar to the literature that has identified learning through experience and other coaches as frequently used components toward obtaining coaching knowledge (Erickson et al 2008;Gould et al 1990;Reade et al 2008;Cushion et al 2003;Lemyre, Trudel, & Durand-Bush, 2004). Reflection (i.e., self as feedback source) has been identified as a useful internal learning tool that is self directed in which experiences are transformed into knowledge Martens, 1997).…”

“…As compared to reading books or watching videos, workshops are mediated learning situations and may provide a more active approach to learning. To be most effective, the workshops should include experiential components as a formal aspect (Erickson et al 2008;Cushion, Armour, & Jones, 2003;Gilbert & Trudel, 1999;Gilbert & Trudel, 2005). As researchers further study this topic, it is recommended that they study participation in continuing education on an annual basis rather than over a 10-year span, as done in this study.…”

Subjective Evidence Based Ethnography: Method and Applications

“…Crucial, because it is essential to preserve this competitive resource as the intellectual and know-how capital, and to pass it on to the new generations of experts. This invisible, internal, not formalised and no longer conscious part of knowledge is often directly shared between apprentices and experienced fellows through socialization practices (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995) such as professional craft mentoring on the work field (Argyris & Schon, 1974;Castéra, 2008;Cushion, Armour, & Jones, 2003;Furlong & Maynard, 1995;Schön, 1983;Zanting, Verloop, & Vermunt, 2003), or within communities of practice (Wenger & Snyder, 2000;Wenger, 1998). However, the current societal context of the baby-boomer generation's mass-retiring makes less and less possible those types of relationships and training settings.…”

Character Development Through Youth Sport: High School Coaches’ Perspectives about a Character-based Education Program

“…From the positive youth development perspective (PYD; Lerner et al, 2015), development is optimized when individual individual, or individual context, relations are mutually beneficial. As a result, athletes' development in youth sports may be strongly influenced by interactions with coaches (Cushion et al, 2003). Several notable conceptual frameworks about sport coaching also align with these theoretical ideas, suggesting that coaching is both an individual and social process (for review, see Coté et al, 2010).…”

“…For example, youth who had controlling and autocratic coaches reported less enjoyment and eventually dropped out of sport (Pelletier et al, 2001), whereas players having encouraging, supportive, and democratic coaches had positive, character-building sport experiences, such as reduced cheating and improved sportsmanship (Doty, 2006). Effective coach education programs help train coaches to promote a balance between athletes' scoreboard and life success (Cushion, Armour, & Jones, 2003), resulting in long-term positive outcomes, including improved character beyond the sport setting (Holt & Neely, 2011).…”