We recently partnered with England Hockey to strengthen assessment practices across their Sessional Coach and Coach courses. Acting as independent quality assurers, we sampled assessments by observing assessors provide feedback to learners on coaching practice. Following these observations, we produced a detailed report and facilitated feedback discussions with assessors, encouraging self-reflection and continuous improvement.
Key themes identified during sampling were shared with England Hockey to inform the development of Coach Developers and enhance the learner experience. In addition, we delivered a virtual session on Reflective Practice, exploring how meaningful and structured reflection can be embedded into coach education and assessment processes to support learner development.
This project aims to ensure assessment feedback is consistent, high-quality, and coach-focused, strengthening coach development and improving the experience for players across the game.
"Working with Sports Structures provided a different lens to view our assessment and reflective practice that we use with ourselves and with our coaches. It has enabled us to make informed developments in structuring conversations to ensure continuity and quality in supporting coaches in their journey. Personally, working with Sports Structures has provided alternative viewpoints to approach assessment with, ensuring coaches get tailored support and developing my own skills in reflection as well as with coaches." - Steph Brennan, England Hockey Coach Developer
