Sports Coaching, Professional Learning and Boundary Crossing

Learning is more than the mere acquisition of information. Rather, professional learning across an individuals’ Landscape of Practice (LoP) (Wenger-Trayner and Wenger-Trayner, 2015) can be examined through the concept of knowledgeability – i.e. the consideration of socially-constructed perceptions of professional competence across the various settings in which practitioners operate. Journeying between these various settings within a practitioner’s LoP requires regular boundary crossing – i.e. moving between different contexts. The purpose of this presentation is to examine the nature and learning potential of boundary crossings within sports coaches’ and coach developers’ LoP. Fourteen junior international sports coaches and 12 coach developers from 17 different sports were interviewed concerning their learning journeys to date. Akkerman and Bakker’s (2011) framework of potential learning mechanisms at boundaries was utilised to better understanding how coaches and coach developers negotiated cross-sport interactions as a potential resource for development. We discovered that all four of Akkerman and Bakker’s (2011) potential learning mechanisms of identification, coordination, reflection, and transformation were profoundly evident within the learning journeys of the 26 participants. In particular, the sub-concepts of othering, confrontation, crystallization, efforts of translation and perspective taking were fundamentally important to coaches and coach developers as they embraced new environments in which their expertise was not yet established. For example, confrontation and efforts of translation were evident as some participants reported initially dismissing the value of anything not overtly connecting to their sport but became, over time, increasingly appreciative, and eager to seek-out, cross-sport interactions. For other participants, these cross-sport interactions were initially destabilizing yet ultimately became immensely important in the process of crystallizing elements of their practice. We recommend that facilitators and brokers of professional learning environments (e.g., NGB coach development officers and coach educators) explore the concept of boundary crossing in order to better help coaching practitioners to enhance their professional practice.