(Re)conceptualising coach education and development: towards a rhizomatic approach

Abstract

To ensure sport coaches across all domains deliver ethical practices, appropriately educating the coaching workforce is of paramount importance. Yet, coach education programmes have been heavily critiqued for failing to enhance coaches’ knowledge and practice. In recognising the sociocultural nature of coach learning, researchers have drawn upon prominent social theorists such as Bourdieu, Foucault, and Bernstein amongst others to critically analyse coach education provision. However, the notion of rhizomatic learning, derived from the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari, has yet to be applied to coach education research, despite its ability to disrupt normalised and linear education systems. Consequently, the aim of this new horizons paper is to introduce rhizomatic learning as a possible framework for (re)conceptualising coach education and development. The intention of this paper is to put Deleuze and Guattari’s concepts “to work” to help theorise how social actors and coaching discourses function to produce learning and practice.