UCLan wins funding from HEFECE Catalyst Fund for new project

Academics from UCLan and St Mary's University have successfully won £22,000 from the Higher Education Funding Council of England’s (HEFCE) Catalyst Fund.

They plan to launch a 18-month project, designed by John Stoszkowski (Sports Coaching) from UCLan, Liam McCarthy and Joana Fonseca (Physical and Sport Education) from St Mary’s University. It will see students across both institutions engage in peer teaching, critical conversation and collaborative reflection connected to their existing modules during the next academic year.

This process will use the latest technology and software for recording, analyzing and feeding back on applied coaching practice. Creating a supervised environment where students will be challenged to comment, critique and share ideas about theirs and their peers’ applied professional practice.

Dr John Stoszkowski commented, "We're delighted to have secured HEFCE funding to deliver what should be quite a unique project in the sector. The initiative is perfectly aligned with the values and ambition of both educational institutions and provides a fantastic opportunity for staff and students to work collaboratively to enhance their learning experience. The students involved will get the opportunity to explore and reshape their understanding from different contexts of coaching practice, while developing highly values professional skills such as self and peer- reflection, critical analysis and effective communication with mentors and peers. We also hope any research findings emanating from the project will go some way to informing and enhancing the development of formal coach education programmes more generally too."

They also hope the project will contribute evidence-based pedagogical strategies to coach education in both the higher education sector and formal national governing body qualifications, leading to the development of more auto-critical coaches capable of better adapting to the complexity of effective coaching practice.

For more enquires please contact JRStoszkowski@uclan.ac.uk