Sport Coach Education, Development, and Assessment

Sport Coach Education, Development, and Assessment offers a range of coach assessment ideas and practices from leaders in the coach education and development field. A combination of theory- and practice-focused chapters aims to stimulate thoughts, dialogue, and actions. Sport coaches play an increasingly important role in delivering positive outcomes through sport for individuals, groups, and societies at large. It is understandable, therefore, that attention is increasingly being directed towards how coaches are supported in their roles. Perhaps the most dominant support mechanism is large-scale coach education programmes. These professional development opportunities invite coaches to participate in a learning experience which typically involves exposure to new ideas, opportunities to practice, and an assessment. Much has been said and written about the extent to which these programmes are effective and the degree to which they contribute to coach learning, or not. These discussions typically reference the learning environment, nature of the curriculum, and report coaches' experiences. However, lacking in these discussions is any deliberation over coach assessment, as a consistent feature of nearly all of these programmes, the world over. This book reflects a very deliberate attempt to platform and promote the issue of coach assessment. This book is designed to offer support and guidance to sport coaches who are engaged in assessment, coach educators/developers who are delivering assessment activities, and programme designers/policy architects who are creating learning opportunities for coaches.

Liam McCarthy is a senior lecturer in sport coaching at Leeds Beckett University, UK. He is interested in coach education and development practice, programmes, and policy. He has worked globally with a range of national and international sport organisations to think about, design, and deliver coach and coach educator/developer learning opportunities.

1. Coach Education, Development, and Assessment: An Introduction; 2. A Language for Talking About Coach Assessment: Stimulating and Sustaining Productive Conversations; 3. Assessment Theories, Models, and Frameworks: A Review of the Literature; 4. Assessment in Coach Education: A Disjointed Piece of the Curriculum Puzzle?; 5. Reframing Assessment in Coach Education and Development Programmes: Assessment as Learning; 6. An Integrative Framework for Assessment in Coach Education and Development; 7. Developing Metacognitive Skills Through Assessment Activities in a Higher Education Context: A Case Study Of Haaga-Helia Coach Education Programmes; 8. Assessment for Learning in a Sport Coaching Degree in the UK; 9. Engaging Coaches in Formative Assessment: Portfolios as a Strategy in a Learner-Centered University Course; 10. Embedding Learner-Centred Assessments in an Undergraduate Introductory Coaching Course; 11. "We Were the Curriculum": Embedded Assessment in an International Coach Developer Programme; 12. Achieving Multiple Outcomes through Assessment in Belgium: Assessment as Learning and for Certification; 13. Integrating Opportunities to Understand and Promote Learning through Assessment in Coach Development: Australian Perspectives; 14. Sport Coach Assessment in New Zealand: A People-Focused Approach; 15. Assessment of Assessment: Perspectives on How Assessment is Implemented by National Governing Body Coach Education Programmes in the United States; 16. Embedding Innovative Assessment Ideas across a Pathway: Opportunities and Issues; 17. Making Judgements that Help Coaches Learn: An Example from a Category One Football Academy In England