When I received this via WhatsApp from Coach Zainudeen, my first thoughts were “Wow! Even Klinsmann has to be held accountable for his CCEs!”
Almost predictably, I began to recall the instances where local NROC (National Registry of Coaches) coaches complained about their CCE (Continuing Coach Education) requirements.
What do they grumble most about?
- The “unreasonable” number of CCE hours.
- That they have to take time off coaching to attend the CCE sessions or,
- There were not enough sport specific CCEs for them to attend.
While I wouldn’t mind debating about the validity of these complaints, I am more interested to discuss about a possible solution.
Self-Guided CCE hours
Self-Guided CCE hours that was introduced by NROC on the 1st of May 2018 as a result of similar feedback from coaches.
“Recognition of Self-Guided CCE hours encourages coaches to be self-directed learners, especially since coaches may have learning needs specific to their sport and context. In addition, Self-Guided CCE hours gives coaches additional flexibility in fulfilling CCE hours requirement.”
The extract is taken from the official NROC webpage and you can read more about the related FAQs there.
Basically, we coaches can now fulfill some of our CCE requirements by reflecting on our own coaching, choose our own medium and mode for learning, zoom in on a specific topic or sport, and at our own time and space! Sample reflection templates and examples are also provided for reference.
Are coaches making use of Self-Guided CCE hours?
It has been more than a year since the Self-Guided CCE hours have been implemented but are coaches making use of it? Hardly!
And why not? Perhaps it is because the NROC has not done a good job in communicating the Self-Guided CCE hours to the coaches, OR maybe, most of us are simply not self-reflective learners.
I really hope the problem lies with the former because critical self-reflection is vital to the continued success of coaches.
Coaches also learn best from coaching, more specifically, from reflecting on their own coaching and self-directed learning
Having thirty years of coaching does not necessary make us better coaches. If we are not reflecting on our own coaching, we could be doing the same $%^t thirty times over.
Coach Hansen
Coach Hansen 