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Ground-breaking research to establish the prospects of sport coaching as a profession in the EU and beyond.
Everyday across the globe, millions of children, young people, adults and senior citizens engage in sport and physical activity pursuits. The common denominator for many of these experiences is the presence of a coach. However, the way sport coaching is regulated in the EU varies amongst countries. Many coaches are unqualified or hold minimal qualifications. These conditions jeopardise the ability of sport to fulfil its promise as an agent of positive development for individuals and communities alike.
CoachForce21 (CF21) is a three-year Erasmus+ co-funded project led by Leeds Beckett University (UK) and the International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE) with another six project partners: Trainerakademie Köln (Germany), Czech Olympic Committee (Czech Republic), Hungarian Coaching Association (Hungary), Polish Institute of Sport (Poland), Treinadores Portugal (Portugal), Professional Coaches of Finland (Finland) and the Hellenic Federation of Sports Coaches and Trainers (Greece).
The approach
Cognisant of these challenges, the European Commission has for nearly a decade encouraged Member States to improve their coaching systems. This includes not only the education and development of coaches, but also the regulation of access to the occupation as well as the working conditions, right and duties of practitioners. This has been referred to as ‘the professionalisation of coaching’.
Centre staff and the International Council for Coaching Excellence lead Erasmus+ project CoachForce21. The main goals are to establish the potential for sport coaching as a profession and to explore the possibilities across different contexts, cultures and traditions. A first-of-its-kind EU Sport Coaching Baseline Report describing the current picture amongst 20+ countries will be published in 2020. Doctoral work conducted at LBU will delve deeper into the relevant questions between 2020 and 2022.
In addition, CoachForce21 will also developing guidelines to improve the governance of sport coaching through the promotion of the voice of the coach – via coaches’ associations.
The impact
The outputs of CoachForce21 provide relevant evidence to make informed decisions about professionalisation issues both at pan-European and national levels. Practical guidance and a menu of options that can be contextualised in different countries will foster the improvement of coaching systems across Europe and beyond.
Doctoral student Guillermo Calvo is developing a series of studies under the title “Exploring occupational improvement and professionalisation in sport coaching in the EU”
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