Professor J. North

Notwithstanding diverse opinions and debates about mixing methods, mixed methods research (MMR) is increasingly being used in sport and exercise psychology. In this paper, we describe MMR trends within leading sport and exercise psychology journals and explore critical realism as a possible underpinning framework for conducting MMR. Our meta-study of recent empirical mixed methods studies published in 2017–2019 indicates that eight (36%) of the 22 MMR studies explicitly stated a paradigmatic position (five drew on pragmatism, two switched paradigms between qualitative and quantitative elements of the study, and one was situated in relativist-interpretivism). The remaining 14 (64%) studies did not report their underpinning research philosophical assumptions. Evaluating the merits and limitations of these positions against critical realist assumptions suggests that several paradigmatic disagreements are potentially reconcilable. These include (a) maintaining that ontological and epistemological concerns are important for methodological integrity of a mixed methods study; (b) switching between paradigms in the same study is problematic; and (c) refuting the qualitative-quantitative incommensurability thesis, therefore allowing mixed methods research without compromising philosophical coherence. From a critical realist position, we suggest that both quantitative and qualitative designs are justifiable in a mixed methods study because (1) they help corroborate, refine, or refute plausible explanations of phenomena (epistemological), but (2) with different methodologies utilised to perform different tasks in the same research design related to different psycho-social system features (ontological). We call for a collaborative engagement by researchers across paradigmatic positions to work towards the advancement of methodological pluralism in our research community.

Research shapes our understanding of practice in powerful and important ways, in sports coaching as in any other discipline. This innovative study explores the philosophical foundations of sport coaching research, examining the often implicit links between research process and practice, descriptions and prescriptions. Arguing that the assumptions of traditional single-disciplinary accounts, such as those based in psychology or sociology, risk over-simplifying our understanding of coaching, this book presents an alternative framework for sports coaching research based on critical realism. The result is an embedded, relational and emergent conception of coaching practice that opens new ways of thinking about coaching knowledge. Drawing on new empirical case study research, it demonstrates vividly how a critical realist-informed approach can provide a more realistic and accountable knowledge to coaching stakeholders. This knowledge promises to have important implications for coaching, and coach education and development practices. Sport Coaching Research and Practice: Ontology, Interdisciplinarity and Critical Realism is fascinating reading for any student or researcher working in sports coaching, sport pedagogy, physical education, the philosophy or sociology of sport, or research methodology in sport and exercise.

Objectives: To examine planning age of athletic retirement of elite athletes in the United Kingdom, athletes’ short-term plans in terms of a balance between sports and other activities, and athletes’ long-term plans in regard to their activities after sports career termination. Design and methods: Participants were 561 elite-level athletes (mean age 26.0 years) who completed a self-administered postal survey. A total of 37 individual and team sports were represented. Results: One-way analysis of variance indicated that the age at which participants planned on retiring from sport varied significantly across sports, among male and female athletes, and among able and disabled athletes. A series of chi-square analyses revealed significant differences in the short-term plans of athletes in terms of increasing training, plans to start education and plans to find a job over the next 12 months. Conclusions: There appears to be an unwillingness among younger athletes and those who perceive themselves to have a significant amount of time before they retire to develop concrete plans about their future career prior to their retirement. It is recommended that further

Research on coaching practice has mainly been undertaken through the disciplines of psychology and sociology. Very little scrutiny has been given to the philosophical underpinnings of these disciplinary positions and how they impact on research outputs in terms of descriptions and prescriptions. This article presents an overview of some of the most cited empirical research on coaching practice and shows how discipline and meta-theory have influenced a priori the results generated. Psychological approaches informed by scientism, and sociological approaches informed by interpretivism, present a dichotomized view of coaching practice, for example, concerning its relative simplicity and order. Yet these distinct disciplinary contributions remain important to the development of the field if it is understood that they contribute different layers of information and do different types of work. Once we have the meta-theoretical tools in place the results of this pluralism can be positioned and utilized. © 2013 Copyright National Association for Kinesiology in Higher Education (NAKHE).

In the United Kingdom (UK), a significant Government investment was made into recruiting, developing and deploying 45 ‘Coach Development Officers’ (CDOs). One of the CDOs' roles was to provide 1:1 development support to coaches - therefore establishing relations with, and facilitating and directly providing development opportunities for, practicing coaches. This article provides evidence of impact of the CDO's ‘coach developer’ role using qualitative interviews with 46 coaches who had received CDO support. The evidence suggests that the CDOs provided a range of services including access to information and signposting (for example, to workshops and mentoring opportunities), and direct support. It was these direct services - support through Training Needs Analysis (TNAs), Personal Development Plans (PDPs), observing sessions and providing feedback, and being an informal mentor or critical friend - which were the most valued.

In recent years the British media have made much of the apparent decline of standards in British sports. In order to interrogate the veracity of media assumptions regarding the standards of conduct in major British sports, a selection of British sports spectators were interviewed in order to examine: (i) their perceptions of the values and norms of sport; (ii) whether they thought that sporting conduct as currently demonstrated by UK sportsmen and women was positive and related to some ideal notion of the 'ethos of sport' and the 'spirit of the game'; (iii) whether they thought that there had been an improvement, a decline or no change in the ethical standards of conduct in those sports; and (iv) views on the impact of new technologies on the values and norms of sport. At least 200 questionnaires were collected from spectators at each of the following major sporting events: (a) the English Nationwide Football League Divisions 2 and 3 play-offs, Cardiff, May 2001; (b) the All England Tennis Championships, Wimbledon, July 2001; (c) the England vs Australia Cricket Test match, Edgbaston Birmingham, July 2001; and (iv) the British Open Golf Championships, Royal Lytham and St Annes, Lancashire, July 2001. Results showed that there were statistically significant differences in what sports spectators thought about British professional sportspersons acting in a fair and sporting way and also that standards of conduct had generally declined over the last 10 years. A general pattern of distribution emerged where the team sports (cricket and football) were less favourably perceived than the individual sports (golf and tennis).

Over the last decade, there has been increased recognition of the size and role of the coaching workforce in Europe. This has led the European Commission to increase its focus on sport coaching and call upon Member States to take steps towards its regulation or professionalisation. However, despite this policy direction, the academic literature, albeit limited to a handful of European countries, has been critical of sport coaching’s capacity and need to move towards a more professionalised status. The purpose of our paper is to begin a discussion about the current and future state of sport coaching across Europe. To do so, we will present the results of an expert survey that provides baseline quantitative data on the current state of coaching across 26 European countries. Results show mixed, but potentially higher than expected, systemic professionalisation of coaching in Europe, though there are also substantial regional differences. We also find significant deficits in national data collection and management; this severely limits the development of a clearer picture and diminishes policymaking. In response to these findings, we propose potential avenues for research and policymaking.

This article provides an overview of the context, details, and outcomes of a consultation and review of the International Council for Coaching Excellence’s interactions and engagements with, and service provision to, the international sport coaching research community. The consultation and review were undertaken by the International Council for Coaching Excellence Research Committee (RC). The paper starts with a description of the sport coaching research landscape. It then provides details of the role of the International Council for Coaching Excellence, its Research Fair, and RC. The paper then offers an overview of the formal initiation of the consultation and review at the Global Coach Conference, Japan 2019, as well as a brief overview of the approach used. It then details the consultation findings providing direction for the RC moving forward. The resultant revised RC terms of reference are included as an appendix.

This chapter explores the notion of the professionalization of coaching and coaches based on the current work and previous experiences of the International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE). It provides a historical review of the evolution of the notion of coaching as a profession through key texts published by ICCE as well as existing research and policy documents. The themes identified are then traced through a brief examination of examples from four different countries (Canada, Portugal, Croatia and South Africa) with coaching systems at different stages of maturity. Implications for practitioners, and for the future of coaching as a profession are drawn, and recommendations for the future are proposed.

The chapter provides a top-level 2023 take on a, to date, decade-long UK programme of coach developer development for performance development and high-performance sport. It explores programme goals, resources, and activities. These are underpinned by ideational and practical ideas concerning practice, learning, content, and processes. The importance of the characteristics of the programme participants and programme designers and deliverers (PDDs) is also noted. The programmatic area is sophisticated and integrated and cannot be easily captured, explained, and indeed delivered. However, ideas around complexity, emergence, layeredness, depth, and contextual dependence are important to both practical and developmental understandings and processes. Considerable emphasis is placed on practical in situ and social learning (PSL), although the wider andragogical strategy is pluralistic. Ultimately, programme participants, PDDs, work together in varied practical and other contexts, to engage in, explore, and make sense of their individual and collective coach development and coaching experiences. This sense-making engages ideas about coach development and coaching captured through ideas such as ‘problems before solutions’ and ‘meeting the learner where they are at’. Future work will provide more detail on the programme as well as examples of lived experience and formal evaluation.

This paper overviews an intensive 1:1 coach development workflow developed and used in U.K. performance and high-performance sport. The workflow has been field tested with over 60 coaches in mainly Olympic and Paralympic settings in a variety of sports. The workflow proposes six main stages: “beginning new relationships,” “seeking first to understand,” “preparing for reflective conversations,” “engaging in reflective conversations,” “working with difference,” and “supporting change.” The stages are tailored pragmatically to context, and the workflow does not suggest a fixed sequence. The application of the workflow requires adaptive expertise based on considerable coach development experience and a breadth and depth of coaching and coach development knowledge. The workflow suggests the need for coach developers to build and support trusting, collaborative, and supportive relationships with the coach, as a foundation for the coach development task. Coach development practices and the workflow are continually being developed and refined in a U.K. context, and future work will provide case studies, evidence of outcomes, and refinements to the work.

Coach education and development has been the subject of considerable attention and investment at government, international federation and national federation levels over a sustained period. The need for a systematic approach to the evaluation of coach education and development programmes has recently been highlighted (Duffy, North & Muir, 2012). Through the articulation of programme theories the core assumptions, intentions and values of programmes can be examined and the extent to which interventions work for different people, in what ways and in what circumstances can be explored. Using a critical realist perspective, a benchmarking study was conducted on behalf The Football Association in England. The purpose of the study was to examine the position of existing programmes relative to five international comparator countries; five leading UK sports and emergent trends within the international coaching community, including those outlined in the International Sport Coaching Framework (ICCE & ASOIF, 2012). Existing programme theories were identified in a number of key areas through document analysis; interview of key personnel and a collaborative process of refinement and co-creation with key FA technical personnel. These programme theories related to the game; the player; the coach; coach education; coach development; coaching as a profession and the environment. The programme theories provided the basis of an investigation of the current position of FA coach education development and highlighted areas of strength and possible avenues for further enhancement. This paper will focus on the way in which the role of the coach has been conceptualised and framed to date and the implications for the design and delivery of coach education and development programmes. An example will be provided of how The FA has been proactive in developing a new approach to the development of coaches within the context of the professional game in England. In addition, the implications of the study for the coaching strategy of The FA will be highlighted as well as the possible further evolution of the methodology employed within the study.

The recognition of prior learning and work experience (RPL&WBE) in coach development is a fundamental part of project CoachLearn. CoachLearn is co-funded by Erasmus+ under the Strategic Partnerships Action within Key Action 2 – Cooperation and Innovation for Good Practices. It seeks to enhance sport coaches' learning, mobility and employment through the development of a European Sport Coaching Framework. This report provides an introduction to the topic and subsequently presents the findings from a survey aimed at gathering the views of a cross-section of coach education stakeholders across the European Union. Stakeholders represented in the sample included national lead coaching organisations, national Olympic committees, national and international governing bodies of sport and vocational and higher education institutions. The main objectives were to identify key challenges faced by organisations in relation to RPL&WBE and existing models of good practice. Central to this goal was defining major factor for the development of successful systems.

Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU), in partnership with the European Coaching Council (ECC), was successful in a bid to the European Commission under the Preparatory Action in the Field of Sport (EAC/18/2011). The project was designed to develop an innovative approach that would contribute to the strengthening of the organisation of sport in Europe as part of the ‘good governance, strand of the EU Preparatory Action in the Field of Sport. The primary objective was to examine ways in which the organisation of coaching could be enhanced in Europe, with a particular focus on the greater involvement of coaches in decisionmaking. In exploring ways to maximise the ‘voice of the coach’, the partnership between LMU and ECC was central to the project. ECC is the continental division of the International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE). Through its network, ECC was in a position to identify current organisational arrangements for coaching across Europe. LMU is a well established research and practice oriented university in the UK and played a lead role in coordinating the project and guiding the research methodology through its Sport Coaching and Physical Education (SCOPE) Research and Enterprise Centre. Varying arrangements for the development and management of coaching were observed through a study of European countries. Within this varied landscape, the representation of coaches was sporadic, ranging from no representative mechanism to a number of good practice examples that made provision for the tiered engagement of coaches depending on their role; sport and coaching status category. These examples included confederated models across sports; blended models across coaching status categories and single and multi-sport models for the engagement and representation of coaches. The study concluded that there is a need for a more considered approach to the involvement of coaches in decision-making, with a number of recommendations developed for consideration by member states and the European divisions of the International Federations. These recommendations proposed that the structure of ECC as the European arm of ICCE be reviewed, with the intention to more strongly engage organisations that have been established to represent the voice of coaches and leading to a re-structuring of the organisation. In this context, ICCE and ECC should play an even stronger advocacy, representative and action role in establishing coaching as a blended profession, which includes volunteer, part-time paid and full-time paid coaches. More coherent structures for the engagement of coaches in each sport and country are also recommended. This should occur as part of a wider commitment that the principle of listening to and hearing the voice of the coach should become more strongly embedded within the way in which sporting and related organisations operate. The EU is well placed to lead on this type of approach, ensuring the coaches are more fully engaged in social dialogue and in the process to further enhance the role of sport and coaching in Europe. Further research is also recommended on the nature, needs and demographics of the coaching workforce. All of these approaches need to be tempered with the realisation that coaches are individual decision-makers, operating in a wide variety of contexts and many of whom do not show a propensity for involvement in formal ‘representative’ structures. The need for alternative methods to connect with and engage coaches was, therefore, identified. These include a more segmented approach to engaging with coaches, depending on their coaching role and status, as well as the utilisation of more informal modes of web-based communication to connect directly with coaches in their daily lives. In all existing and future scenarios, the key role of federations at the national and international level in seeking, activating and allocating financial and other resources to connect with and support their coaches was highlighted. The findings have been notified to ICCE for formal consideration, leading to changes in the ways in which the voice of the coach is more clearly represented within the work of the organisation. ICCE should continue to work closely with the EU Sport Unit to ensure that the recommendations of this report are implemented and evaluated on an on-going basis.

This position statement is the result of a consultation process carried out in 2021 as part of project CoachForce (CF21), an Erasmus+ co-funded initiative co-led by the International Council for Coaching Excellence and Leeds Beckett University. It is organised in two parts. First, the principal and extended position statements are presented. Subsequently, a short background and rationale paper are offered as supplementary information. Development of these documents took place in four stages. Stage one saw the CF21 expert group develop an outline of the contents of the position statement. Stage 2 included the development of a first full draft of the statement and the rationale paper by the core authors. Stage 3 comprised of a global consultation with the ICCE member base. Finally Stage 4 entailed the development of the final version based on the feedback received. The statement is intended to cover the period 2021 to 2030, however, it will be subject to periodical review and, if necessary, amended.

The contribution that sport coaches make to society has received growing recognition among policy-makers over the last decade. Sport coaching is no longer only associated with professional and Olympic sport, trophies, and medals, and it is regularly proposed as an activity that contributes to the development of individuals, communities, and societies. Unfortunately, sport coaching has also been associated with negative outcomes, such as institutionalized doping, abuse of athletes, and match fixing. The level of scrutiny and expectations on coaches are higher than ever, and, therefore, more and more countries and sport organizations are examining how coaches are currently recruited, educated, developed, supported, employed, represented, and recognized. In the current landscape, the need to review the existing International Council for Coaching Excellence position statement on “Sport Coaching as a Profession,” written in 2011, is paramount. The 2021 position statement takes into account policy, practice, and research developments over the last decade to propose a way forward for sport coaching over the next 10 years.

An increasing trend in the United Kingdom (UK) has been to argue for, and attempt to use, more detailed coaching workforce data to inform sport coaching system and programme development (e.g. Lynn & Lyle, 2010; North, 2009; Sports Coach UK, 2008, 2012; Winder & Townend, 2010). There have also been similar pockets of research activity internationally notably in Australia (Dawson, Wehner, Phillips, Gastin, & Salmon, 2013) and Canada (Reade et al., 2009) although their connection to the policy process is less clear. Recently there have been a number of UK centred proposals to the Europe Commission to explore the possibilities of opening up these methodologies to European countries and beyond, from Leeds Beckett University as part of its partnership with the International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE), the European Coaching Council (ECC), and other European partners. This includes the 2011 Preparatory Action in the Field Of Sport bid CoachNet, written up in a final report by Duffy, North, Curado, and Petrovic (2013), and the 2014 Erasmus + bid CoachLearn, of which this project forms a part. As a result of early investigations related to the CoachLearn project it became clear that the UK context and motivations for the development and application of specific research methodologies, and the collection and use of coaching workforce data were fairly unique. This meant that some important assumptions underpinning recent successful bids with regard to coaching workforce data methodologies and their application across Europe required further examination. This paper explores the context and motivations for, and applications of, the collection and use of coaching workforce data in five European countries: Finland, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, and the UK to determine whether a common methodology and tools to underpin coaching workforce data collection is relevant, useful, and viable. In undertaking this work the paper faces into comparative issues concerning centralised ‘good practice’ frameworks, evidence based decision making, performance management, research and research methodology, which could inform wider debates both inside and outside sport.

The General and Coaching Specific Education Frameworks in the EU – Knowledge, Impact and Future Needs Survey is part of project CoachLearn. CoachLearn is co-funded by Erasmus+ under the Strategic Partnerships Action within Key Action 2 – Cooperation and Innovation for Good Practices. CoachLearn seeks to enhance sport coaches' learning, mobility and employment through the development of a European Sport Coaching Framework. The survey aimed to gather the views of a cross-section of coach education stakeholders across the European Union which included national lead coaching organisations, national Olympic committees, national and international governing bodies of sport and vocational and higher education institutions. The first half of the consultation revolved around the identification of common challenges faced by stakeholders, the various tools they have used to overcome them and the role played by existing generic and coaching specific qualification frameworks and mobility tools. The second half investigated the views of the participants in relation to the development of the future European Sport Coaching Framework.

In the European Union (EU) there are approximately between 7 and 8 million youth sport coaches (Fig. 1) and the majority of them hold lower-level coaching qualifications or no qualifications at all (Lara-Bercial et al., 2017b). While sport includes benefits such as personal and social development as well as providing a nurturing and caring environment (Holt et al., 2017; Lara-Bercial & McKenna, 2018), there is evidence across the continent that participants continue to drop out of sport, especially in the adolescent years (Emmonds et al., 2021). Sport alone therefore, is no magic bullet, and coaches need to recognise the important role they play in creating positive environments for children and young people in youth sport. Environments that not only bring children to sport, but keep them in sport as active, healthy adults. The vision of ICOACHKIDS is of a world where every child has access to positive sport experiences that foster a love of sport, play and physical activity.

The symposium will provide an overview of how a multi-disciplinary research team engaged in supporting the British Canoeing Women’s Sprint Canoe Coach around the technical aspects of the Sprint Canoe stroke. Within the 60 minute session, the presenters will discuss how a coach’s technical model for a skill can be captured, and used, to better inform quantitative analysis of athlete technique which in turn can be used to check and challenge the technical understanding of the coach. The development of a reciprocal relationship can provide coaches with meaningful, purposeful feedback on their own technical understanding and on their athlete’s level of technical skill development while producing impactful research driven by real world coaching issues. Reflections will be provided within the symposium around developing a relationship with the coach to better understand their technical knowledge needs, tailoring the feedback of technical information to the coach to reflect their learning preferences and how that knowledge can be used to inform their practice. The symposium will conclude with a proposed framework for researchers to use when working with coaches to better bridge the gap between researchers and practitioners to produce meaningful, informed research that has real world coaching impact and application.

The creation of a legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games has been articulated by government in the form of five promises, some of which have implications for coaching (Department of Culture, Media and Sport 2008, Before, during and after: making the most of the London 2012 Games. London: Department of Culture, Media and Sport). The UK Coaching Framework (sports coach UK 2008a, The UK Coaching Framework: a 3-7-11 year action plan. Leeds: Coachwise) makes the case that sport coaching has a role to play in delivering legacy and policy objectives through the systemic development of active, skilled and qualified coaches. The status of the UK Coaching Framework as a complex intervention to support policy and legacy objectives is addressed in this article. The analysis is referenced against seven criteria derived from the realist approach to impact evaluation (Pawson et al. 2005, Realist review - a new method of systematic review designed for complex policy interventions. Journal of health services research and policy, 10 (1), 21-34; Pawson 2006, Evidence based policy: a realist perspective. London: Sage), with an emphasis on programme theories. The programme theories of the Framework position sport coaching as a generative mechanism for outcome patterns in participation and performance sport. In order to maximize the impact of this mechanism, the Framework proposes strategic action areas that include participant and coach modelling; workforce analysis, recruitment and deployment; support and education; regulation as well as research. The Framework proposes to integrate these action areas into implementation chains throughout the United Kingdom, supported by the progressive alignment of resources. The programme theories recognize the agency and responsibility of the coach, as well as the volition of participants in different contexts, with implications for the way in which coaching roles are defined. It is concluded that the UK Coaching Framework is a complex intervention, which is amenable to realist impact evaluation. It is suggested that such evaluation will provide a more robust basis to understand the impact of sport coaching on legacy. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Introduction: This study attempts to understand the work of coach developers in the development of coaches. There is currently little understanding of what people in these roles do and, therefore, what their professional development needs are. Method: A total of 15 coach developer professionals were engaged in data collection. Data was collected through one or more of; interview, observation in one to one sessions, observation in workshop settings. Results and discussion: Using theoretical models to analyze data, an expert coach developer was defined through requisite professional skills, knowledge and typical behaviors in 6 domains. While this definition was achieved, caution is suggested since this definition is reflective of ‘Frankenstein’s monster’ rather than reality. Due to the ill defined nature of the role ‘coach educator’, the defined domains should be used as benchmarks to measure personal practice against alongside the goals of the role and the context within which the role is undertaken.

In the United Kingdom, recent research documents an over-representation of White participants, coaches, and decision makers within sporting contexts. In contrast Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) groups are under-represented at all levels of sport: from players, coaches, and managers in sport governance. Recent research into the experiences of BAME men and women in sports coaching also shows that inclusive sporting environments, including a diverse workforce, are highly motivating for entry into, and progression through, the coaching pathway. However, significant and powerful barriers exist that prevent the progression of BAME individuals into higher level coaching qualifications and job roles. These barriers lead to the privileging of White men and are therefore described as both raced and gendered. This paper is based on a research project commissioned by the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2014 to explore South Asian male players’ and coaches’ experiences of coaching and progression through coaching pathways. We draw on data collected from 33 semi-structured interviews carried out with a sample of male South Asian players and coaches, from two different geographical areas - London and Yorkshire - and from a sample of clubs with different levels of ethnic diversity. Our analysis showed that South Asian players participate in an environment and culture where they are unlikely to engage in coaching and, even when they do, will not feel supported in progressing to higher roles of influence and power.

Although there have been increasing calls to recognise the ‘voice of the coach’ in both policy and research, there has been very little work that has asked the coaches directly: ‘what are your main issues and problems?’, and ‘where do you go for support’? Instead assessments and decisions have been made on these issues by the media, policy-makers, support agencies, governing bodies and researchers with results often reflecting the perspectives and interests of the latter. This paper presents new research with a reasonably representative sample of over 1,000 UK coaches that considers the issues and problems, and support networks, from the perspective of the coaches themselves. The results suggest that coaches experience a wide range of problems but that they can be broken down into 17 main categories with places to play sport (e.g. facilities), problems with player-coach interaction, and problems with coaching knowledge and skills, being most frequently mentioned. In terms of support networks, the coaches tended to look ‘closest to home’: to themselves, their family/friends, participants and parents, and local coaching networks. Governing bodies and coaching associations tend to be less well used. Some implications for policy and practice are discussed.

Chapter 2 discusses the planning process and the various approaches to planning a coaching programme specifically designed for the youth performer. Many of these principles will hold true for other performers as planning, like coaching, is a process that can be both short and long terms. Some coaches plan on a session-by-session basis whereas others can work on a four-year programme. This chapter highlights the nested planning principles, applicable to all sports, that lead to expertise in coaching. This chapter discusses the planning process and the various approaches to planning a coaching programme specifically designed for the youth performer. It highlights the nested planning principles, applicable to all sports that lead to expertise in coaching. The macro, meso and micro terms introduced earlier identify that short-term cycles of development should set in the context of medium-term cycles, which are in turn set in the context of longer-term development cycles. In coaching terms, this would mean that a single coaching session was guided by the longer-term goals. Abraham and Collins identified the type of thinking changes with the planning stage. Educational psychologist John Biggs developed the concept of constructive alignment as a method to develop, and achieve, specific learning objectives in adult education. The most common terms describing movement are ‘fundamental movement skills’ (FMS). FMS have been described as the building blocks that enable young and more mature participants to take part in most sports and games successfully.

Relatively little is known about coaching systems within Olympic sport settings. Subsequently, professional development programmes for coaches in these settings lack evidence to draw upon to support design and delivery. Being aware, UK Sport commissioned a review of coaching in four funded sport settings assumed to be expert, effective and ethical (3 Es). Paralympic (2) and Olympic (2) sports were purposefully contacted. From each sport, a senior manager, head coach, assistant coach, sport scientist, and a focus group of athletes were asked and agreed to participate in the study. Interviews lasted 45 – 90 minutes. Interviews were structured to access views on the 3 Es. The need for expertise was contextualised as being an essential underpinning for effectiveness. The six domains of expertise previously identified by (Abraham et al., 2010) were highlighted. The importance of being able to predict future sport demands for medals was highlighted. Numerous strategies for effectiveness were identified. A universal strategy was the development of critical, trusting, relationships across athlete and support team. Examples of ethical practice as deductively aligned with ideas from medical ethics were consistently apparent. However, alignment was largely based upon being good people with good values. In conclusion, an effective coach in this setting was defined as one who evidences consistent achievement of medals or highly challenging goals through an ethical integrated system and interpersonal problem-solving approach. Effective environments existed where there was a culturally and strategically aligned environment. Ethical practice was typical, but its development was not formal.

Over the course of the last two decades, coach education programmes have become a globally recognised mechanism for improving the quality of coaching practice (International Council for Coaching Excellence, 2013). As a result, they have attracted attention from sport coaching researchers who have examined different aspects of coach education programmes, in different ways (Gilbert & Trudel, 2004; Rangeon et al., 2012). However, it is argued that there has been a failure to adequately consider two important issues. First, assessment as a feature of coach education programmes has been overlooked in the peer-reviewed literature (Hay et al., 2012; McCarthy et al., 2021). Second, despite the well-resourced (relative to sport coaching more generally) nature of coach education programmes (and the systems within which they function) they are often subject to little meaningful evaluation.  Responding to both issues, the present study represents a critical realist informed evaluation of project-based assessment as a feature of the FA Level 3 (UEFA B) in coaching football programme. Drawing on realist evaluation (Pawson & Tilley, 1997), the ERE model (North, 2017), and adaptive theory (Layder, 1998) to form a hybrid research methodology, the study was undertaken in two phases. First, theories were generated to establish the intentions of project-based assessment; this involved a review of appropriate grey literature, a series of realist interviews with individuals who had influence on and/or designed the programme, and a review of the academic literature. Second, the resultant theories were explored in the field over nine months, across three programme delivery sites, working with 16 stakeholders (full-time coaching leads, coach educators, and coaches). Three findings are discussed, which each partially explain how and why projectbased assessment as a feature of the FA Level 3 (UEFA B) in coaching football 3 programme worked for specific coaches in certain circumstances. These include: the importance of establishing what is required and what ‘good’ looks like, the role of metacognitive skills, and access to networks of support. These are presented as an integrative framework for assessment in coach education which offers some important principles to be considered when designing and implementing assessment in coach education.