Launch of new pathway for coaches
Equestrian Australia (EA) is excited to announce the development of a new coaching accreditation pathway.
Its development follows an NCAS review (completed in 2014) and, more recently, six months of consultation between EA and the broader Equestrian community including State CEOs, National Committee Chairs and State NCAS Committee Chairs, as well as a number of coaches and coach educators.
A number of issues were identified in the current structure. The key areas involved a:
- Lack of transparency in the cost associated with coaching;
- Lengthy and somewhat convoluted process to gain accreditation;
- Lack of clarity on how to progress;
- Structured, singular educational format that does not cater to differing learning styles; and
- Concern that unaccredited coaches could be delivering horse riding lessons.
In an endeavour to eliminate these concerns and further enhance our coaching accreditation program, we have worked collectively to create a simplified model with improved accessibility and value for money.
The new coaching program, which will be introduced in 2018, will include four levels of accreditation delivered via an online platform, with discipline electives delivered face to face and additional electives offered for further skill and knowledge development. The four levels are:
- Recreational Coach: targeted primarily to club level coaches and teachers who wish to deliver the basic skills of horse riding.
- Competition Coach: targeted to lower levels of competition and intermediate skills of horse riding.
- Senior Competition Coach: targeted to middle levels of competition and advanced skills of horse riding.
- High Performance Coach: targeted to international levels of competition and the high performance requirements for horse riding.
This revised process will present the pathway in a modular approach that is streamlined and consistent across all disciplines, while also enabling flexibility to cater to the varied directions coaches may wish to take. The electives will focus on specific disciplines and general equestrian knowledge, as well as modules to further develop business and interpersonal coaching skills. We aim to add new additional elective modules each year to suit the evolving needs our coaches coming through our coaching pathway, thereby addressing current industry requirements and allowing for continuous professional development.
“The revised program is flexible and will significantly improve the accessibility, quality and approach towards the learning outcomes for Equestrian members who wish to progress into coaching via a more streamlined pathway,” said EA’s Pathways Manager - Coaches, Alison Gestier.
Chief Executive Officer, Paula Ward, says ”Our coach network is a very important part of our membership and achieving clarity within our development pathway, as well as enhancing the learning opportunities within each discipline is the result of a significant collaborative effort by many. With the framework now in place, as a next step, we are now looking forward to continuing this collaboration to review the technical content of each module as we work towards having the full program ready for roll out in 2018.”
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