Pedagogy consists of the principles, practice or profession of teaching. There is a rich body of knowledge in this field that is research based. As part of my preparation to be a teacher I was taught teaching methods – how to write a lesson plan, how to organize a classroom, where to stand, how to project my voice and much more. Then we practiced, first teaching lessons to other student teachers and then actually student teaching with real live students. It was the same with coaching because coaching is teaching, pure and simple. We were taught the basics of various sports, we were taught progressions then we taught each other and then we student coached. My generation of coaches and those that came before me and a generation two after me were trained as teachers to teach. We had methods classes’ where we had to learn skill progressions and were graded on our ability to teach.
For some reason I do not see the elements and foundations of sound pedagogical principles inthe current generation of young coaches. Today’s young coaches are smart as a whip in terms of science and theory. They can recite the Krebs cycle forward and back, but they seem to lack the ability to teach. They have never been taught how to teach and coach; it is no longer the core of teacher and coach training curriculum. Pedagogical principles are the basics that go before the sport basics. How you organize your training session. What formation the athletes are in. Where you stand. Who leads an exercise? How you demonstrate. These are all essential elements that do more to determine the effectiveness of the training than the actual technical content of the session or the X’s and O’s. There is an art and science to it, a feel and a touch. How you coach is as important as what you coach, ultimately it will determine your effectiveness as a teacher. The better you teach, the better coach you will be.
Everyday that I coach I thank Dr Haradedian for what I learned in PE 30 A & B at Fresno State in 1965. At the time I had no idea how important it was, but thank God I payed attention and learned. If you are a young coach find a coach who who was classically trained as a teacher and have them help guide and mentor you. Certainly there are many books and other resources available, but finding someone with the voice of experience would serve you well.
Will Kirousis
SOOOO True!
I “felt” this coming into coaching from a Sports Science degree. I couldnt articulate it at the time, just felt there was a difference between knowing what VO2 max was and helping athletes improve. My parents and sister all are teachers and very involved in that field – so I’d hijack the books they had on Pedagogy and read them – or talk with them about it. At some point, I’d like to get back in school and take some formal courses on this as well. Being a scientist does not make you a coach. It gives you a little set of tools to use to help you coach. Being a good communicator and being able to teach is the big tool of coaching.
TriExpert
I’m with Will. I lacked this training (and for that matter the formal sports science background) when starting out, and, slowly, “felt” my way into a fair degree of competency. But training is generally superior to self-instruction. I mean, if we didn’t believe that, we wouldn’t be coaches, now, would we? 😉
Brad Stoffers
Mr. Gambetta,
Thank you for all your knowledge and this great post! I have started a website for coach education and professional development related to coaching in all disciplines that encompasses pedagogy, leadership development, sport science, etc. All of which I believe Sport Coaches and Strength Coaches should have knowledge in.
Thank you again,
Brad Stoffers
Mike Horan
I think another part of this is how many coaches today start as head coaches instead of working up as an assistant. As a HS track and XC coach I see so many teams led by green coaches who have never had a mentor or worked under another coach. We lose a lot when all we have are our own ideas (and we have to make all the mistakes ourselves).
Wayne Pedranti
Pedagogy is the basis of my course work. I am currently working om my Masters in Coaching Education at Ohio University.
Kyle
I come from an Army background, their teaching methods are very basic but effective. Every lesson goes,
“In this lesson you will be taught X, the reason you are taught is so that you as individual soldiers can do Y. This lesson will be in Z parts, part 1 is…” etc.
After each part, you ask questions of the group to see if they’ve been listening. After that, “are there any final questions or doubtful points on X?” then the wrapup, and you’re done.
It’s all rather bland and basic, but works with largeish groups. Of course I don’t do the same thing now that I’m training people in civilian life, but it helps to have that systematic thinking, explaining why they’re being taught this, breaking things down into sections, constantly seeing if people are listening, seeing who’s with it and who’s losing it, etc.
Education Coaching
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Anonymous
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Biomedis
What is pedagogy, and why is it considered the foundation of coaching?
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