EXCELLENT COACHING EVERY TIME FOR EVERYONE UK Coach Education and Development Strategy Technical Document
The National Coaching Foundation, 2013 This resource is copyright under the Berne Convention. All rights are reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, no part of this publication can be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be addressed to Coachwise Ltd. All images Coachwise/SWpix unless otherwise stated Authors: Anne Baker and Steve McQuaid Coachwise editorial and design team: Christopher Stanners and Ian Bolton sports coach UK Chelsea Close Off Amberley Road Armley Leeds LS12 4HP Tel: 0113-274 4802 Fax: 0113-231 9606 Email: coaching@sportscoachuk.org Website: www.sportscoachuk.org Patron: HRH The Princess Royal Published on behalf of sports coach UK by Coachwise Ltd Chelsea Close Off Amberley Road Armley Leeds LS12 4HP Tel: 0113-231 1310 Fax: 0113-231 9606 Email: enquiries@coachwise.ltd.uk Website: www.coachwise.ltd.uk To enquire about accessing alternative formats of this resource, contact sports coach UK on 0113-274 4802 or email coaching@sportscoachuk.org sports coach UK will ensure that it has professional and ethical values and that all its practices are inclusive and equitable. 90828:12
UK Coach Education and Development Strategy Technical Document
EXCELLENT COACHING EVERY TIME FOR EVERYONE This Strategy 1 INTRODUCTION In the UK, more than one million coaches provide coaching to an estimated five million participants in sport each week. Coaches are vital for sport, and it is clear that effective, high quality coaching can inspire participants and plays an essential role in developing, sustaining and increasing participation and performance in sport.
Anne Baker sets the direction for the next 10 years Coaching needs skilled coaches at every level to enable participants to be the best they can possibly be, whatever their level, motivations or environment. Coaches own development is paramount to the development of their participants and performers. The UK Coach Education and Development Strategy aims to set the direction for education and development in the sports coaching sector for the next 10 years. The Strategy and the associated action plans have been developed by sports coach UK as the lead technical agency for coaching, with extensive contributions from, and the support of, a variety of governing bodies of sport, home country and other agency representatives. Excellent Coaching Every Time for Everyone The UK Coaching Framework 1 1 sports coach UK (2013) The UK Coaching Framework. 2nd edition. Leeds: The National Coaching Foundation/Coachwise Ltd. UK Coach Education and Development Strategy 2
EXCELLENT COACHING EVERY TIME FOR EVERYONE 2 ASPIRATIONS Vision To develop a world-leading coach education system that is needs-led and trains highperforming coaches to be the best they can possibly be. The impact of the vision is that coaches continually seek to improve their performance, with all coaches seeing their coaching as a development opportunity for themselves and ultimately their participants and performers, and expecting every learning experience to be meaningful.
Alan Edwards Underpinning Principles Aim To support the development of high-performing coaches meeting the needs of the participant, whatever their pathway or environment. Alan Edwards This Strategy sets out four key principles to provide a realistic, cohesive way to develop coaches that is: needs-led jointly agreed by Partners aligned in terms of resources monitored and meets key performance indicators. This Strategy is needs-led, producing high quality training that is quality assured and linked to funding. For the purpose of this Strategy, the term coaches will refer to all coaches and also the coach developer workforce. The aspiration of this Strategy is for each stakeholder to agree on the key components of their engagement with coach education, and to continue to research areas that may contribute to future improvements. UK Coach Education and Development Strategy 4
EXCELLENT COACHING EVERY TIME FOR EVERYONE To promote A great deal has been achieved by governing bodies of sport in coach education since The 3 BACKGROUND Coaching Task Force Final Report 2. Among other things, the UK Coaching Certificate (UKCC) has provided governing bodies of sport with a development tool and model of good practice that is, and continues to be, implemented in a growing number of sports.
a culture of continuous improvement Acknowledging these achievements, there is no place for complacency, and this Strategy aspires to build on those accomplishments in an everchanging educational and financial landscape while ensuring that the way ahead is clearly expressed and achievable. The Strategy promotes a culture of continuous improvement in coach education and development through: recognising and building on existing good practice looking for efficiencies and improvements supporting the concept of a needs-led approach to learning, impacting on the content of coach education opportunities and, where possible, involving an individual learning programme for each coach encouraging the development of coach education programmes based on: strategic need coach need participant need. The Strategy will only be realised with an appropriate investment from governing bodies of sport, and into governing bodies of sport by the various agencies and funding streams accessible to sport. Every effort needs to be made to ensure funding is in line with the requirements of sport. 2 Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) (2002) The Coaching Task Force Final Report. London: DCMS. UK Coach Education and Development Strategy 6
EXCELLENT COACHING EVERY TIME FOR EVERYONE These five 4 STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES The Strategy will lead to cohesive working by stakeholders, establishing agreed principles and standards that are for the benefit of coaches, performers and participants. The five objectives of the UK Coach Education and Development Strategy will enable the vision to be achieved.
objectives will enable the vision to be achieved Strategic Objective ONE Establish further clarity on the direction of coach education in the UK It is through clarity of purpose that key stakeholders will have a stronger case in uniting and influencing government and funding agencies to achieve a collaborative approach to delivering a common goal of educating high quality coaches. There are currently a variety of providers of both sport-specific and generic coach education. Delivery can be varied and is not necessarily based on an identified need. It is essential to provide a cohesive approach, leading to the alignment of all Partners, who will be functioning collaboratively. This will include a focus on common aims, and a greater understanding of roles and responsibilities linked to agreed standards. One of the main challenges is that different governing bodies of sport have different capabilities, aspirations and expectations. In addition, a key challenge will be the level of alignment that is possible across the different home countries to ensure the appropriate political agendas can be met. A further challenge will be to align all Partners working towards a common aim. UK Coach Education and Development Strategy 8
EXCELLENT COACHING EVERY TIME FOR EVERYONE STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES (continued) The intention Strategic Objective TWO Identify the needs of stakeholders and coaches
is to identify and understand the market This objective looks to ensure the needs of stakeholders and coaches are identified, which will provide an opportunity to identify a clear way forward, agreed by all relevant Partners, with appropriate resources. Different systems are used by stakeholders to identify the educational needs of coaches and coach developers in a range of areas. The majority of sports are currently working on a coach model linked to environment to identify the training needs of coaches to be fit for purpose. The intention is to identify and understand the coach education market and its needs and wants, based on the four key principles. This Strategic Objective aims to use the most appropriate existing systems and share good practice to identify the developmental needs of coaches and coach developers in a range of areas. These include the identification of competences, skills and knowledge required in their coaching environments, which in turn inform the content of coach education qualifications, training programmes and continuous professional development (CPD) opportunities. A key challenge will be to align the Partners and stakeholders involved in the delivery of coach education to ensure duplication is eliminated. Further challenges include: alignment with the sports sector and wider pathways consideration of emerging markets and expectations from further and higher education courses, and coaches in general identifying the support required for effective home country developments financial, perceptual, physical and social accessibility. sports coach UK, as the lead body tasked with this area of coaching in the UK, will offer monitoring and evaluation processes and tools to track progress and outcomes. This will be based on a logic model. UK Coach Education and Development Strategy 10
EXCELLENT COACHING EVERY TIME FOR EVERYONE The outcome STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES (continued) Strategic Objective THREE Ensure all qualifications, programmes and CPD are appropriate for coaches
is to ensure qualifications are fit for purpose The outcome of this Strategic Objective is to ensure qualifications, training provision and CPD are aligned and fit for purpose to develop selfreflective high-performing coaches. All coach education training will be linked to identified and strategic need. Individuals will be developed on the basis of their need, linked to the ever-advancing use of technology highlighted in Strategic Objective 4. Key activities include ensuring that the national occupational standards (NOS) and common units are fit for purpose, and the UKCC is retained as a development framework. Appropriate training and support for the coach education workforce and trainers of this workforce are essential. Coaches will take ownership of their own development by choosing from a suite of identified and available learning opportunities. The challenges are to ensure delivery partners and funding streams are engaged with, and have bought into, these building blocks. It is accepted that some sports will be in a more advanced stage of readiness to engage than others and, in turn, the availability of a range of training opportunities will depend on various factors. There is currently a lack of cohesion in the delivery of coach education programmes provided by different stakeholders and Partners. There is a need to have a clear pathway agreed by all Partners. UK Coach Education and Development Strategy 12
EXCELLENT COACHING EVERY TIME FOR EVERYONE Coaches are Strategic Objective FOUR Ensure delivery matches coaches need STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES (continued)
Chris Childs/Action Images Limited more likely to take ownership of their learning This Strategic Objective looks at how coach education is delivered to coaches. In particular, there will be a focus on the content identified in Strategic Objective 3. The two main factors to influence this are the learning needs of the individual coach and the nature of the knowledge and skills required. Giving coaches meaningful educational experiences delivered in a way that is right for them ensures they are more likely to engage with the experience and further development opportunities, and take ownership of their own learning. Coach education will not be perceived as a chore, but more as something that makes their coaching life better, more successful and more fulfilling. To do this properly, there will need to be an exploration of the methods by which coaches prefer to acquire knowledge and develop skill. In particular, the development of reflective skills and understanding self will assist coaches to identify their own needs and how best to meet these. This will then be matched with the content and may include a variety of learning environments. The opportunities afforded by the development in technologies must also be explored further, with a view to increasing the accessibility of learning opportunities while enhancing, not compromising, the experience of the learner. This Strategic Objective aims to take advantage of, and stay up to speed with, emerging technologies. A key challenge will be investing resource in a way that can be built on in the future. This is particularly challenging due to the pace of change of these technologies. An additional challenge will be to develop structures that provide high quality delivery through a range of mechanisms to service different coaches preferences. This needs-led approach to delivery is the perennial issue for wider education and will require constant review to ensure it is providing for the range of learners. Accessibility, from financial, perceptual, physical and social perspectives, could be a potential issue. These training opportunities should be delivered by appropriate stakeholders and Partners in a cohesive way, providing meaningful learning experiences. UK Coach Education and Development Strategy 14
EXCELLENT COACHING EVERY TIME FOR EVERYONE The impact Strategic Objective FIVE Align resources for coach education STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES (continued)
will be a greater return on investment This objective focuses on making the most of available resource (money, personnel and time) to support the right coaches in the right way. A key aspiration is for long-term sustainability in the development and implementation of high quality coach education experiences. These experiences need to be useful and meaningful for coaches. Those resources and programmes that are developed and implemented in relation to identified need should be prioritised for funding. This will require a cohesive approach from key Partners. To make the best of the funding available, further work will need to be completed to support the alignment of coach education funding with the needs of the sports, coaches and participants. This should be the same for non-traditional sources of funding and those that are currently readily available to sport. A future aim is to provide coach education funding opportunities, for both development and implementation, that have been strategically agreed and based on the needs of the coaches. Governing bodies of sport will be paramount in the process. There will not be a culture of chasing funding, more of shaping funding to ensure the correct programmes and resources are given support. A key challenge in the development of this Strategic Objective is the requirement to work in close partnership with other agencies to take advantage of economies of scale. An element of this challenge will be to ensure the needs of coaches are central to the developments. This will be actioned through Strategic Objectives 2, 3 and 4. It could be argued that, in the past, coaches and governing bodies of sport have had to compromise to access certain funding opportunities. A challenge will be for Partners to shape funding for the future to ensure this does not happen. The impact of this Strategic Objective will be a greater return on investment at all levels. That investment will be a safer one, with a greater understanding of the intended outcomes. It will reduce any leakage of monies into unnecessary or badly planned coach education activity, allowing that money to be invested more wisely. In short, the funds will be directed to the right areas to support coaches in increasing participation and developing performance. UK Coach Education and Development Strategy 16
EXCELLENT COACHING EVERY TIME FOR EVERYONE 5 FUTURE General Challenges A key challenge is aligning Partners and stakeholders to share information and work cohesively in both formal and informal learning environments. Another challenge is the stage of readiness and capacity of governing bodies of sport that are in the various stages of development with coach modelling and coach education workforce development. The final general challenge is that the alignment of funding has to be needs-led.
Measurement and Evaluation of the Strategy This Strategy is underpinned by the concept of continuous improvement, both in terms of the Strategy as a whole and each of its components. An evaluation schedule will be associated with its implementation and the development of a logic model to determine the ultimate impact and ensure the correct measurements are taken and interrogated at the correct time. This schedule will be aligned to the accompanying annual action plans. sports coach UK is committed to producing a logic model for this Strategy that works through inputs, activities, short-, medium- and long-term outputs and ultimate impact. This would position the Strategy, activities and long-term impact for all Partners to understand. The Role of sports coach UK sports coach UK aims to create a cohesive approach, leading to the alignment of all Partners, who will be functioning collaboratively, working in an interdisciplinary/inter-agency way towards a common aim, understanding roles and responsibilities and linked to agreed standards. sports coach UK will be tasked to draw up a series of action plans, associated with each objective, that will guide those who are tasked with its implementation as to their key goals for the next five years. UK Coach Education and Development Strategy 18
EXCELLENT COACHING EVERY TIME FOR EVERYONE 6 NEXT STEPS Conclusion The challenge of supporting individuals to become better at what they do, and finding catalysts to allow this to happen, forms the basis of all good education. The UK Coach Education and Development Strategy aims to facilitate this in the context of coach education. By working together, all the relevant Partners will make the most of the available resources while benefiting from a sector-wide partnership approach. The next steps will be to produce a series of action plans focused on the achievement of the Strategy. The action plans will be produced in collaboration with the key coach education and development stakeholders. These action plans will be reviewed regularly in line with the commitment to continuous improvement. Action Plans Initial position papers will be produced by the end of 2013. Following that, the key actions will be developed, with sports coach UK as the lead agency until 2014.
Actions Production of Coach Developer Position Paper 3 Alan Edwards Production of ele arning Position Paper 4 Production of Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) Position Paper Production of Qualifications Position Paper Production of Coaching and Higher Education Position Paper Production of UKCC Position Paper: UKCC Embedded and the Future Production of Coaching and Leadership Position Paper Production of Coach Licensing Position Paper Production of Coaching and Europe Position Paper Initial scoping review of the NOS Initial identification of coach education intelligence sources Identification of priority (population-specific) generic learning requirements Coach licensing endorsement to sports with existing systems and a platform to assist other sports in developing licensing Production of underpinning criteria for priority generic learning units Production of initial priority generic learning units Production of initial priority generic learning units opportunities Development of RPL models Development of coach developer/education workforce pathways model Development of Coach Developer Workforce Planning Tool Kit Identification of local/regional coach education network models International and national funding opportunities identified 3 Available from www.sportscoachuk.org/resource/coach-developer-position-paper 4 Available from www.sportscoachuk.org/resource/e-learning-sports-coaching UK Coach Education and Development Strategy 20
sports coach UK Chelsea Close Off Amberley Road Armley Leeds LS12 4HP Tel: 0113-274 4802 Fax: 0113-231 9606 Email: coaching@sportscoachuk.org Website: www.sportscoachuk.org