Coaches' dispositions towards non-formal learning situations: An analysis of the 'Coach Talent Programme'

It is often suggested a coach’s development occurs through a mixture of learning situations, which can be formal, non-formal, or informal in nature. Nevertheless, research which merely identifies and describes these learning... [ view full abstract ]

It is often suggested a coach’s development occurs through a mixture of learning situations, which can be formal, non-formal, or informal in nature. Nevertheless, research which merely identifies and describes these learning situations often fails to explore how coaches’ dispositions and the ‘learning cultures’ they are engaged with influences their experiences, perceptions, and opportunities for learning. To extend the limited research on the role of non-formal learning situations on coach development, the aim of this research was to explore how coaches’ learning dispositions impacted upon their experiences of a cross-sport continuing professional development (CPD) programme entitled the Coach Talent Programme (CTP).

The CTP is delivered by a regional sports organisation. Seven coaches from five sports involved in the programme took part in semi-structured interviews. Interview questions centred on the coaches’ experiences of attending the workshops, their opinions on the content and format, in addition to their perceptions on how influential the workshops were towards their learning. Interview transcripts were transcribed, coded and analysed thematically.

Coaches experienced the CTP’s workshops differently based upon their dispositions towards learning and the learning cultures they were engaged with. Such dispositions helped facilitate social interaction and an open-mindedness to learning from cross-sport coaches, which was often prevented within their own sporting milieus. Moreover, how the workshops’ content influenced learning varied, with coaches’ dispositions towards coaching either being developed or confirmed based upon their pre-existing habitus. The findings highlight how learning cultures are permeated by social fields, impacting upon what some coaches’ value and consider ‘good learning’ to entail within non-formal situations.

This research demonstrates how coaches’ experiences of non-formal learning situations are influenced by their dispositions, learning cultures, and wider social fields. Sports organisations would benefit from recognising the influence of coaches’ dispositions and learning careers to help develop more bespoke environments for coach learning.