COACHING DEVELOPMENT Heidi Thibert, MFS, MM, MC
Education Comes Before Development B Y H E I D I D E L I O T H I B E R T, P S A S E N I O R D I R ECTO R O F COAC H I N G D EV E LO PM E N T
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hat exactly is the difference between ‘Coach Education’ and ‘Coach Development’? Both are terms that occupy a significant position within the vocabulary of the coaching industry. Truthfully, the two terms are used interchangeably without much thought given to a more precise understanding of the learning activities they describe. To be accurate though, they refer to different activities and different processes, and when combined effectively, are both factors in the learning process for coaches. You might even say they “Team-Teach”. I began employment with the PSA in 2009, and over the past decade, the level of knowledge and understanding of experts in the field regarding how sports coaches develop their practice and become more expert has evolved significantly. It has become increasingly evident that coaches learn through engaging in a wide range of opportunities, by reflecting on their own practice and experience, and that the pace and trajectory of learning is specific to each individual coach. Coach education experts Turner, Nelson and Potrac (2012) indicate the process of becoming an expert coach is a continuous journey of learning in which expertise is constantly made and remade as coaches experience different issues and different contexts. Expertise in this sense is always in the making, contingent on the coaching context and not necessarily a linear process that progresses through neatly identified stages of development. This is not unlike the journey that our skaters experience. “Coach Education” is characterized by a formal and structured approach to learning. Typically, there is an approved curriculum designed, developed, and delivered by recognized organizations through a course of learning. It may involve a form of assessment designed to ascertain the coach competency and capability. However, just as our skaters learn by experiencing a skill (think of a jump harness), coach education is not the only way that coaches learn and grow. Further, there
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is knowledge to suggest that coaches also learn through engaging in a variety of less formal, less structured, and less mediated forms of learning. This is best described as the “untaught lessons”. Formats of learning that lie outside the formal and structured coach education system can best be described as “Coach Development”. Extended learning opportunities such as mentoring, experiential learning, reflection, interactive workshops, and peer to peer insightful interface are all tangible forms of learning which significantly contribute to a coach’s serrated individual journey towards enhanced expertise. It seems clear that an efficient coaching system recognizes and reflects these two components and ensures that the system provides both education and development opportunities for coaches. This diagram captures the “coaching journey” in terms of the relationship between coach education and coach development over time.
Learning Opportunities Coach Education
Coach Development
More formal, structured learning activites designed to increase the capability of a coach.
Less formal and less structured learning activities that contribute to the coach's growth.
The diagram illustrates how education comes before development and lends some relevant thoughts to the process of improved coaching: 1) Just as rushing through the moves in the field tests does not guarantee enhanced skating skills, the “coaching journey” does not occur simply by moving from one
