Value Creation in a Coach Developer Social Learning Space: Stories of predispositions, non-prescribed guidance and legitimacy.

Previous studies concerning Coach Developer learning have demonstrated notable deficiencies in the provision offered to practitioners, commonly reporting what they experienced was prescriptive instruction of how to deliver coach education courses – a practice starkly in contrast to the espoused theoretical underpinnings of the courses themselves. This Participatory Appreciative Action and Reflection investigation (PAAR; Ghaye et al., 2008) aimed to better understand the learning of 10 participants recruited to a 9-month Coach Developer professional development programme which was designed not to prescribe, but to guide, the practitioners’ learning. Data were collected through individual and group interviews, field notes and professional discussions. Additionally, this investigation aimed to utilize the Value Creation Framework (VCF; Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2020) and the concept of short and long flows of value to further illuminate Coach Developer learning. Two main themes were constructed, namely; (a) Openness, applications and transformations; and (b) Orientations, loops and making a difference. The most prominent findings of this investigation include demonstrating the importance of the consideration of Coach Developers’ predispositions, non-prescribed guidance by programme facilitators, and the legitimacy of practitioners in their workplaces. These findings represent a significant advance in our understanding of how Coach Developer learning can be facilitated.