An Evaluation of the PG Certificate in Coach Development for members of the Grassroots delivery Team at The Football Association

This report identifies the extent to which the PG Certificate (PGCert) in Coach Development impacted the coach development practices of two cohorts totalling 23 employees of The FA Grassroots Delivery Workforce.

The report provides insight to learning and development experiences of the workforce in the context of the PGCert learning outcomes:
1. Critically examine personal practice and resources to expose uncertainty, generate new insights and ways of working.
2. Critically review and refine understanding of formal and informal coach education curriculum to plan, intervene and support course development and coach learning.
3. Conduct an extended enquiry in an area of interest and generate knowledge, or a product based on knowledge, that has clear, justifiable value to Coach Developers.

The main findings of the evaluation are as follows:
1. Tutors’ had experience of working for and with The FA and understood the job demands of the Grassroots Delivery Workforce. This allowed tutors to shape academic content and assessments to day-to-day practices of the workforce.

2. Teaching and learning tools used by PGCert tutors were adopted by workforce members in their delivery of coach education courses. These included tools for reflection, communities of practice through online forums and social media.

3. Unanimously, the workforce communicated a raised awareness of a constructivist approach to teaching and learning. The workforce suggested this developed their ability to adopt pedagogy underpinned by constructivism in the delivery of coach education courses with adult learners.

4. The learning environments created by PGCert tutors generated uncertainty and encouraged problem solving. The workforce reported adapting similar environments and tasks to adult learners within the existing coach education curriculum.

5. In particular, the module titled ‘Professional Placement’ encouraged the workforce to develop usable products for learners on coach education courses. For example, the development and integration of a podcast through County FA webpages preparing coach education candidates for in situ visit assessments.

6. Despite the gains detailed above, the workforce suggested more allocated blocks of time for PGCert work and study outside of delivery days were needed to develop even further their academic skills, knowledge and understanding.

7. Some workforce members were also studying other important CPD tied to their employment (for example, UEFA A license), combined with travelling to and undertaking in situ visits which constrained the time they were able to dedicate to PGCert study away from formal study days at St. George’s Park.