Examining Learner-Centered Coach Education
Creators: name: Paquette, Kyle
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2018
Subjects: Coach education
constructivism
facilitation
learner-centered
learning

description: At the center of all coach education initiatives and programming is the coach. Although the study of traditional coach education programs has yielded rather discouraging findings, coach education can be significant in its contribution to coach development when coaches are addressed as learners and their unique learning needs and orientations are recognized and prioritized. Indeed, the conversation has shifted to the application of learner-centered (LC) approaches. The purpose of this doctoral dissertation was twofold: to explore the contribution of using the LC theory, including a well-established learner-centered teaching (LCT) framework, to support coach education; and to examine the LC initiatives of a coach education program. An immersion in the LC literature was followed by the collection of multiple sources of data: program documents (n = 5), coach survey data, in-depth participant interviews (coach development administrators, n = 14; learning facilitators, n = 6; coaches, n = 10), and audio-visual material. Program documents (449 pages) were analyzed using a summative content analysis (Hsieh &amp; Shannon, 2005) based on Blumberg’s (2009) LCT framework, and the interview transcripts (521 single-spaced pages) were analyzed using thematic analysis (Braun, Clarke, &amp; Weate, 2016). The findings are presented in three articles and an additional findings section. The first article presents a theoretical overview of the LC literature linked to current perspectives and issues in coach education, including validated framework for facilitating LC change and assessment. The second article looks at the evolution and current LC status of Canada’s golf coach education program, a distinguished program within the Canadian sport system. The third article, using composite vignettes, presents the coaches’ and learning facilitators’ perception of their experiences participating in the LC designed program. In the additional findings, the CDAs’ biographies and perceptions of their experiences participating and contributing to the design of the program are presented along with the challenges they faced. The main points from the findings in this dissertation are as follows: (a) given the strong conceptual links and evidence-based foundation, LCT offers a coherent and sensible framework to guide the study and design of coach education; (b) there were lessons to be learned when looking at the history and evolution of the coach education program; (c) the creation and implementation of LC program benefitted from leaders who understood and subscribed to a constructivist view of learning; (d) the LCT approaches were dependent on the role and effectiveness of the learning facilitators; (e) coaches’ and facilitators’ perceptions of LCT approaches and engagement in the program varied according to their cognitive structures, specifically their learning orientation; and (f) more broadly, the program’s impact and effectiveness was influenced by the dynamic and complex interplay between the program design, delivery, and coach engagement. The findings contribute to the emerging body of literature on the use of constructivist learning principles to support coach education; they provide scholars and practitioners with a robust framework to guide the study, design, delivery, and assessment of LC coach education; and they share the exemplary efforts, experiences, and challenges of a sport federation who successfully adopted a high degree of LCT within its coach education program. Finally, based on the findings and the coach education and LC literatures, a fourth article is presented in the discussion that offers a collection of practical recommendations for CDAs to support LC coach education.