Applied Coaching Research Journal Research Journal 4 | Page 24

APPLIED COACHING RESEARCH JOURNAL 2019, Vol. 4
APPLIED COACHING RESEARCH JOURNAL 2019, Vol. 4
Reflective practice has since become a prevalent
model of development in many professional
contexts, most notably education and healthcare,
and gained prominence as a means by which
practitioners can develop self-awareness regarding
the issues and impact of their performance
(Osterman and Kottkamp, 1993). For example,
trainee teachers study a range of established
teaching methods in order to determine which will
work best in their context, and nurses are required
to complete formal reflective documents as part
of their practice. The key rationale underpinning
reflective practice is therefore that experience alone
is not sufficient for learning, but requires intentional
reflection in order to engage in continual and
significant development (Peterson, 2016).
Reflection in
action
(at the time the
event is happening)
A Critical Review of the Role of
Reflective Practice in the
Development of Sport Coaches
Pete Vallance
England Futsal, The Football Association
Abstract
The use of reflection in professional practice has
long been considered beneficial and, indeed, central
to converting experience and knowledge into
expertise. The close relationship between reflection
and experiential learning has been well documented
in theories such as Kolb’s (1984) Experiential
Learning Cycle, which advocates a cyclical process
of experience, observation, conceptualisation and
experimentation. Reflection has since been explored
in a wide range of professional contexts, including
education, medicine and engineering. This article
seeks to critically evaluate the use of reflective
practice in the development of sports coaches,
drawing on interpretations of reflective thought
alongside contemporary research in coaching.
Keywords: reflective practice, learning, Schön,
development, coach education.
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Introduction
Dewey (1933) established the principle that
“reflection is central to all learning experiences,
enabling individuals to act in a deliberate and
intentional fashion...to convert action that is
merely blind and impulsive into intelligent action”.
This premise was instrumental in contemporary
understanding of reflection as a catalyst
for learning. The application of reflection in
professional development is widely constructed
around the work of Schön (1987), who coined the
term reflective practice as “a dialogue of thinking
and doing through which I become more skilful”.
This theory addressed his previous concerns
regarding models of professional training that
failed to equip students for fast-moving practices,
sending them into the workplace with limited
technical knowledge. In comparison, Schön’s model
was designed to encourage novice learners to
compare their methods with those of experienced
practitioners, thus leading to professional progress.

Reflection
on action
(after the event)
•
•
•
•
The experience itself
Thinking about it during the event
Deciding how to act at the time
Acting immediately
• R
 eflecting on something that
has happened
• Thinking about what you might do
differently if it happened again
• New information gained and/or
theoretical perspectives from study that
inform the reflector’s experience are used
to process feelings and actions.
Figure 1: Schön’s (1992) model of reflection in and
on action
In context
So, how relevant is reflective practice to a sports
coaching context? Can the same benefits be applied
to a profession deeply rooted in observation and
experience? Research has suggested that the
informal and unmediated learning that occurs in
everyday contexts has a lasting and significant
impact on coaching practice and is valued more
highly than formal forms of education (Werthner
and Trudel, 2006). However, it can be argued that
simply acquiring experience does not guarantee
coaching development and expertise. As Gilbert
and Trudel (2006) suggest, “10 years of coaching
without reflection is simply one year of coaching
repeated 10 times”. The success of reflective
practice in a coaching environment is thus reliant
on finding a suitable and contextualised medium
through which to achieve a meaningful combination
of experience and knowledge.
Time
Recent studies have shown that reflective practice
has a positive impact on coaching development,
equipping practitioners to increase their elite
knowledge, initiate change, link theory to practice
and prepare for the ambiguity of the coaching
environment (Cushion et al, 2003). However, there
are several key issues to consider when exploring
reflective practice in a coaching context. Firstly, the
issue of time is a key factor in determining whether
the level of reflection achieved is meaningful.
Due to the increasing demands placed on their
time, many coaches find it extremely challenging
to reflect in a structured and effective way.
Many coaches experience this difficulty in their
coaching practice, in which the business of practical
duties overwhelms the intention to spend time in
reflective thought, thus promoting the view that
reflection is an extra, rather than integral, part of
development. However, the reality of a coach’s
timetable cannot be ignored, and so coaches must
be encouraged to develop individual approaches
to reflection that suit their learning styles and
personal contexts.
Motivation
The effectiveness of reflective practice is also
dependent on the willingness and commitment of
the coach to intentionally make time to engage
with it (Cropley and Hanton, 2011). This highlights
motivation as a second key issue surrounding
the use of reflective practice in a contextualised
environment. In a comprehensive study of sports
coaches, most participants placed reflective activity
as low priority on their list of responsibilities
(Cropley et al, 2012). As such, their formal reflective
material was often rushed and lacking in detail,
which suggests that reflective practice is quick
to be deemed superfluous. These findings are
similar to an earlier study that found candidates
repeating themselves when filling in a reflective
questionnaire, sharing reasons such as, ‘I didn’t
really know what to write and where to write it’
(Cropley and Hanton, 2011). This issue forms part of
a wider problem with formal and mediated learning
courses, which have been found to be inadequate
in preparing students for real-life coaching (Gilbert
et al, 2006). Moon (2004) refers to this type of
learning as ‘building a brick wall’, during which the
passive learner accumulates concrete knowledge
but is unable to engage individually, thus limiting
the learning opportunity. Furthermore, if everyone
is reflecting in the same way then it can be argued
that individuals cannot achieve their full potential.
The question to address, then, is how to achieve
a standardisation of reflective practice in coach
education whilst also retaining individual creativity
and coaching style.
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