The role of coach education in the development of expertise in coaching

Abstract

The coach has a crucial role to play in the furtherance of sporting performance however, unlike the athlete, scant attention has been paid to the development of the expert coach. This thesis investigated methods of coach education, which allowed coaches to develop their practice through the adoption of both structured and unstructured processes. It consists of three different studies, examining coach education, support and development, as perceived by sport coaches. The findings conclude that coaches questioned the effectiveness of formal coach education programmes, the support of their NGBs and the sports specific nature of many of the awards. Coaches progress using a variety of methods but key were the informal Communities of Practice (COP), critical thinking skills, a supportive club environment and a personal desire to develop their knowledge base in a range of areas. Some professions have integrated expertise development into education programmes using a variety of methods. Sport coaching should embrace the examples from these and introduce the concept of long term coach development into the coach education framework.