An examination of content knowledge in formal coach education curriculum

Noel Dempsey, Ed Cope, David J. Richardson, Martin A. Littlewood, Colum Cronin

Abstract

Sport coaching can be seen as an interdisciplinary endeavour, where coaches integrate multiple disciplinary knowledges to support participants achieving a variety of desirable outcomes (e.g. learn new skills, meet new people, develop greater confidence). Limited research however has considered what knowledge has been used as the basis for curricula, or how it has been structured into formal coach education courses. This is remiss because coaches not only need to learn, but need to learn something to ultimately aid their own (and others) development. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine what content knowledge contributed to the English FA intermediate (i.e. level 2) formal coach education course, and how this knowledge was structured to form a curriculum.

Data were collected using a document analysis of National Governing Body (NGB) and awarding body documents (n = 10), as well as observing two formal coach education courses, and interviewing coach developers (n = 5) that delivered those courses. A deductive thematic analysis identified three themes: (1) A Curriculum Partially Informed by Research, (2) A Strongly Classified Curriculum and (3) A Curriculum also Includes ‘Professional Knowledge’. Findings reveal the socially constructed nature of content knowledge legitimised as worth knowing in formal coach education curricula. It prompts critical consideration of what knowledge is used (or not) and how this knowledge supports learners in the dynamic and often ambiguous context of coaching. The significance of the findings move beyond the case at hand, as wider educational institutions may wish to consider what content knowledge is used, and how it is structured within their own coach education and development provisions.