The Evolution and Learner-Centered Status of a Coach Education Program

Abstract

The history of coach education in Western countries, much like higher education, has been shaped by societal influences and external drivers. The resulting trajectory includes a notable movement and shift in focus related to educational paradigms. Being learner-centered (LC) has become a central theme and mission by many coach education programs. The purpose of this case study was twofold: to explore the evolution of the historically rich coach education program of golf in Canada, and to assess the LC status of the most recently developed context of the program using Blumberg’s (2009) framework for developing and assessing learner-centered teaching (LCT). A series of program documents and interviews with seven coach development administrators involved in the program were analyzed. Findings revealed the turbulent epistemic evolution of the program and its pedagogical approaches, as well as the combination of internal and external drivers that triggered the shift from one extreme (instructor-centered teaching) to another (LCT) until finding a functional equilibrium. Moreover, the assessment of the program confirmed its claims of being LC. Discussions are presented on leading a LC change, facilitating learning, and using the framework to assess LC coach education.

Moving Toward Authentic, Learning-Oriented Assessment in Coach Education

“…In the following section, we briefly outline a number of assessment principles that we believe could enhance the assessment experience and outcomes for sports coaches. We present these from a social-constructivist perspective, since it would appear that many NGBs in particular are increasingly drawing from this theory of learning to inform their programme design and delivery (Callary, Culver, Werthner, & Bales, 2014;Chapman, Richardson, Cope, & Cronin, 2019;Paquette, Hussain, Trudel, & Camiré, 2014;Paquette & Trudel, 2018). Yet, we must be clear that it is not our intention to advocate any one singular approach, indeed we do recognise that limited evaluation work has been undertaken to understand the efficacy of not just coach education underpinned by social-constructivism, but coach education more broadly (Dohme, Rankin-Wright & Lara-Bercial, 2019;Gilbert &Trudel, 1999 andCassidy, Potrac &McKenzie, 2006).…”

The Initial Questionnaire Development in Measuring of Coach-Athlete–Parent Interpersonal Relationships: Results of Two Qualitative Investigations

“…Analyzing these dynamic and complex interpersonal relationships poses a need for a deeper analysis and evaluation of the athletic triad relationship in a youth sports setting. The athletic triad has been studied separately by a number of scientists [1,10,12,24] and has been analyzed from the athlete’s point of view [15], the coach’s point of view [19,25,26], and the parental point of view [10,19,27]. However, few studies have attempted to evaluate all three members of the athletic triad within one single study.…”

Learner-centered teaching in a university-based coach education: First attempts through action research inquiry

“…The shift of an educational paradigm must be recognized as a slow and incremental process that involves the search for equilibrium, 4,24 which means not only redesigning the course structure and teaching strategies, but also providing conditions to change perspectives and beliefs of students, teachers, and administrators. In order to overcome the instructor-centered education model, the collaborative planning, development, and engagement by all stakeholders involved in the educational process are essential.…”

“…Therefore, the aim of this study is to provide an overview of the LCT approach within a university-based coach education program. To date, only a few studies have analyzed the LCT status, 23,24 and no research has presented the application of the five LCT principles 7 on coach education programs. Based on an action research (AR) approach, this paper does not seek to provide generalization from the findings to the LCT advantages and disadvantages, but a starting point to open discussions about the value of LCT in coach education.…”