Investigating the Culture of Coach Education in the UK: The Supporting and Promoting Inclusive Coach Education (SPICE) Project

The UK Coaching Framework (sports coach UK, 2012) places overtly inclusive and equitable processes at the heart of the future development of the sports coaching industry in the UK. It is clear that developing an inclusive culture is a key area of sport policy within the UK, yet the under-representation of females, people with disabilities or from BME communities is starkly evident within coaching. The aim of the evaluation was to investigate the culture of coach education in the UK and establish implications for the engagement and support of traditionally under-represented groups. The evaluation incorporated a pragmatic methodological approach with the framework drawn from Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) and the methodology underpinned by the tenants of Appreciative Inquiry (Cooperrider & Whitney, 2005). Four NGBs volunteered to participate in the evaluation; British Cycling, the British Equestrian Federation, British Gymnastics and British Rowing. The ‘Discovery’ phase of the Appreciative Inquiry included semi-structured interviews with 28 coaches representing each of the three groups of interest from across the four NGBs. The ‘Dream’ phase involved: semi structured interviews with eight coach educators and semi-structured interviews with five officers of the participating NGBs with a responsibility for the development of coach education. Coach, coach educator and NGB officer interview data themed strongly into three adapted Self-Determination Theory themes of ‘Autonomy: Freedom to coach’, ‘Coaching competence’, and ‘Relatedness and belonging’. This paper concludes that the perceived freedom to operate as a coach and to meaningfully contribute to the development of others was crucial to engagement with coach education within the three groups discussed throughout this investigation. The perception of effectiveness within a coaching role was also a crucial aspect which affects the likely engagement with coach education. Women, coaches with a disability and coaches from BME communities can all benefit from a greater sense of relatedness and belonging within the sport and NGBs need to identify ways to further enhance the meaningfulness of the sport and, correspondingly, coaching - particularly to people from BME communities. Further conclusions include that NGBs should continue to pursue the shift away from a technocratic conception of coaching to a greater appreciation of the interpersonal and pedagogic skills which are central to coaching effectiveness. Coach education should embrace coach-led decision making in terms of the developmental topics which are important and NGBs should embrace the concept of developing coach competence rather than assessing technical understanding as the foundational principle of coach education.