1 The Professionalisation of Scottish Football Coaches: A Personal Construct Approach By Peter Thomas Clarke Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport at the University of Stirling For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2017 2 Acknowledgements There are a number of people that need my thanks for helping me with this study. Of prime importance is Professor David Lavallee who was absolutely crucial in his ceaseless support and encouragement through the period of my study. Bob Brewer and Tony Lamb were also extremely helpful in discussing my literature chapters, making useful suggestions and corrections. Further thanks are due to two very close friends, Mal Reid and Nick Moody, two coaches with extensive knowledge of coaching at the elite elevel. Many discussions and debates on coaching have taken place with them over the many years that I have known them. Special thanks are due to my dearest friends, Tony and Maureen Lamb, who have been involved in teaching and teacher education over more years than they would like to be reminded of. Without their and their family’s unconditional support, the completion of this project would not have been possible. In addition, thanks are clearly due to the numerous players and especially the elite coaches at the various clubs where the data were collected. Without their active particpitation this work would never have come to fruition. Finally, thanks are due to my present tutor, Dr. Peter Coffee, who has guided and supported me particularly in the latter stages of the work. To all I offer my sincere thanks and just hope that the final product justifies their belief that I could do something which seemed quite daunting especially in the early stages. 3 Abstract Sports coaching has struggled to gain credibility as a profession. It has previously been described as a pseudo profession, though in recent years there have been a number of attempts to rectify this view in order to formally recognize coaching as a profession. Most literature on the professions focuses on the more established professions, with very little research undertaken into the professional development of football (soccer) coaches. The research undertaken examined the ways in which Scottish football coaches learnt their ‘trade’ once they had achieved their initial certification – in other words, how they became socialised into the profession of football coach in Scotland. In order to achieve this aim a number of different samples were examined. First, a sample of aspiring, young professional players were examined, followed by a sample of full time young professionals. Further, two samples of coaches undertaking their initial accreditation courses (SFA UEFA ‘B’ Licence and SFA UEFA ‘A’ License - this latter award being essential to become a full time professional football coach in Scotland). Finally, a sample of senior coaches (those that had been practising for at least five years) was examined. The methodology of choice was that of Personal Construct Psychology (PCP) which enabled an idiographic analysis of each coach to be carried out. Using the Repertory Grid (Repgrid) technique all samples, which were exclusively male, completed a grid and the group of senior coaches also had their grid data further analysed using the ‘Laddering’ approach, which enabled a more detailed set of core constructs to be derived. In addition, the development of the ‘Snake’ interview approach, enabled a more detailed examination of senior, elite coaches’ development. This format enabled the senior coaches to describe perceived critical incidents that had occurred in their professional lives and discussed what meaning such incidents had in their professional development. Results indicated that there was a mismatch between what young professional players thought that coaches should do and what coaches actually did in their daily practice. Further, differences in constructs between “B” level, coaches and “A” level coaches and senior coaches were clearly definable. There was little evidence to support idealistic notions of what should happen in learning situations with senior professional coaches and reasons for such were discussed. It was argued that much more attention should be paid by the National Governing Body, the 4 Scottish Football Association (SFA), to ensure that courses should be better structured to be more relevant to neophyte coaches in their initial learning. Thus, once these coaches become formally qualified (certificated) more precise mechanisms, in terms of realistic Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes, mentoring of coaches at all levels and the establishment and encouragement of ongoing and accepted communities of practice, coaches will benefit and develop as professionals from such continuous life-long learning opportunities. 5 Declaration In accordance with the Regulations for Higher Degrees by Research, I hereby declare that the whole thesis now submitted for the candidature of Doctor of Philosophy is a result of my own research except where reference is made to published literature.I also hereby certify that the work embodied in this thesis is not being currently submitted in candidature for any degree from any other institute of higher learning. I am responsible for any errors and omissions present in the thesis. Signed: Peter T. Clarke Date 28/05/2017 6 Table of Contents Acknowledgement 2 Abstract 3 Declaration 5 Table of Contents 6 Tables 7 Figures 8 Chapter One - Personal Construct Psychology 9 Chapter Two - Professional Socialisation 31 Chapter Three - Coach Learning 72 Chapter Four - Research Questions 117 Chapter Five - Methods 121 Chapter Six - Results 140 Study 1 140 Study 2 151 Study 3 158 Chapter 7 - Discussion 209 Theoretical Implications 210 Practical Implications 214 Strengths and Limitations 223 Recommendations for Future Research 225 Conclusions 226 References 227 7 Tables Table 5.1 Participants: Studies 1, 2 and 3 121 Table 6.1 Group Construct Scores (Study 1a, Group 1) 140 Table 6.2 Rank Order Construct Scores for the Ideal Player (Study 1a, Group 1) 142 Table 6.3 Group Construct Scores (Study 1a, Group 2) 143 Table 6.4 Rank Order Construct Scores for Ideal Player (Study 1a, Group 2) 144 Table 6.5 Constructs/Contrasts for the Ideal Footballer generated by players in Study 1a 145 Table 6.6 Group Construct Scores (Study 1b, Group 1) 146 Table 6.7 Rank Order Construct Scores for Ideal Coach (Study 1b, Group 1) 147 Table 6.8 Group Construct Scores (Study 1b, Group 2) 148 Table 6.9 Rank Order Construct Scores for Ideal Coach (Study 1b, Group 2) 149 Table 6.10 Comparison of constructs/contrasts generated for ideal coach in Study 1b 150 Table 6.11 Group Construct Scores (Study 2, Group 1) 151 Table 6.12 Rank Order Construct Scores for Ideal Coach (Study 2, Group 1) 152 Table 6.13 Group Construct Scores (Study 2, Group 2) 154 Table 6.14 Rank Order Construct Scores for Ideal Coach (Study 2, Group 2) 155 Table 6.15 Hierarchical Comparison of notions of the Ideal Coach by A and B candidates 156 Table 6.16 Coach A Rank Order Scores for Constructs/Contrasts on main component derived from the Pringrid analysis 160 Table 6.17 Coach B Rank Order Scores for Constructs/Contrasts on main component derived from the Pringrid Analysis 169 Table 6.18 Coach C Rank Order of Constructs on main component derived from the Pringrid analysis 177 Table 6.19 Coach D Rank order of constructs/contrasts on main component 185 Table 6.20 Coach E Rank Order of Constructs/Contrasts on main component derived from the Pringrid analysis 193 Table 6.21 Coach F Rank Order of Constructs/Contrasts on main component 200 Table 6.22 Constructs/contrasts generated by all Elite Senior Coaches 207 8 Figures Figure 3.1 Learning how to coach 78 Figure 5.1 Example completed grid: Study 1a, Group 1 128 Figure 5.2 Example of one completed grid: Study 1a, Group 2 129 Figure 5.3 Example of one completed grid: Study 1b, Group 1 130 Figure 5.4 Example of one completed grid: Study 1b, Group 2 131 Figure 5.5 Example of one completed grid: Study 2a ‘B’ License Coaches 132 Figure 5.6 Example of one completed grid; Study 2b ‘A’ License Coaches 133 Figure 5.7 Example of one completed grid: Study 3 135 Figure 5.8 Example of a completed Ladder of one senior coach 136 Figure 5.9 Example of one completed Snake Interview with one senior Coach 139 Figure 6.1 Coach A Grid Display 159 Figure 6.2 Coach A Ladder Results 161 Figure 6.3 Coach A: Snake Interview Results 166 Figure 6.4 Coach B Grid Display 168 Figure 6.5 Coach B Ladder Results 170 Figure 6.6 Coach B Snake Interview Results 174 Figure 6.7 Coach C Grid Display 176 Figure 6.8 Coach C: Ladder Results 178 Figure 6.9 Coach C: Snake Interview Results 181 Figure 6.10 Coach D Grid Display 184 Figure 6.11 Coach D Ladder Results 186 Figure 6.12 Coach D Snake Interview Results 190 Figure 6.13 Coach E Grid Display 192 Figure 6.14 Coach E Ladder Results 194 Figure 6.15 Coach E: Snake Interview Results 198 Figure 6.16 Coach F Grid Display 199 Figure 6.17 Coach F Ladder Results 201 Figure 6.18 Coach F Snake Interview Results 205 9 Chapter 1 - Personal Construct Theory Introduction This chapter will introduce the work of George Kelly, examine his Personal Construct Theory (PCT), discuss how extensively his approach has been used and examine two particular ways that have evolved from his approach - Laddering (Hinkle, 1965) and Snake Interviews (Pope & Denicolo, 2001). Kelly’s Personal Construct Psychology Kelly’s Personal Construct Psychology (PCP), often referred to as Personal Construct Theory (PCT), formed the very basis of the approach taken in this study.