The value of Jarvis for studying coach learning: Explaining high school teacher-coaches' learning pathways

Abstract

The approximately 52,000 volunteer Canadian teacher-coaches do not require formal coach education and remain relatively unstudied. Thirty-one Ontario high school teacher-coaches were interviewed. In Jarvis' theory of human learning, learning occurs when our life experiences transform our biographical repertoires. Individuals receive information via the senses, the perceived content of which can be transformed cognitively, emotively, and/or practically into knowledge and/or skills. Our analysis revealed three groups of teacher-coaches, each sharing important biographical experiences affecting their learning pathways. Rookie coaches lack experience in sport to reflect upon and practically transform into coaching knowledge and skills. Their learning is mainly future directed and intentional as they seek to cognitively transform the information they seek from interactions with colleagues and other sources like the Internet. Ex-varsity athlete coaches often learn to coach through emotive transformation elicited by reflection on their former coaches' behaviours. Previously experienced coaches learn through practical experience, often as assistant coaches and by observation. They use cognitive and practical transformation to learn through creative variation based on reflection and information gained in informal situations. Jarvis helps us understand the learning pathways of these teacher-coaches, and plan for appropriate learning opportunities.