Introduction
The symposium links to the Conference theme ‘Empowering practitioners and supporting professional learning’ as it invigorates the mentoring process by using a design thinking approach to analyse and redesign 'mentoring conversations' (Tillema van der Westhuizen, & van der Merwe, 2015) in order to optimise novice coach learning in sports coaching contexts. The design thinking process enabled the 'mentoring conversation' to become a rich site for mentor training. In sum, the symposium provides (a) a new Mentor Training approach for sports coaching (b) three exemplars of optimum learner centred mentoring conversations (ibid); and (c) a critique of the sports coach mentor as design thinker.
Method Employed
The study employed a four-stage design thinking process [Clarify, Ideate, Prototype and Implement] (Goligorsky, 2012). Each of the three case studies comprised a sports coaching academic, a coach educator, an experienced coach (mentor) and a novice coach (mentee) who co-wrote the case study.
Results
The emergent case studies themes were: (1) The complexity of learning tasks (2) Team selection; and (3) Modelling the thinking process in coaching.
Scholarly or scientific significance
The symposium showcases an innovative approach to unlocking the learning potential of these mentoring conversation (ibid) as sports coaches are often untrained for their secondary role as mentors (Author, 2015) and finding places and spaces for such training can prove difficult, given 76% of sports coaches are volunteers (Sports Coach UK, 2011).
