National Programmes Activator training — maybe not quite what it used to be?

I have posted previously on how enthused I was by joining the team of tutors for new National Programmes Activators, and how the National Programmes were really getting a lot of things right.

When I wrote the original articles, the National Programmes were indeed an inspiration for anyone interested in seeing coaching move beyond its basic coach-as-instructor model.

But a couple of small changes to Activator training might just have taken the heart out of the programme.

In 2023 “PEAS” — the underlying ambition to make sessions Purposeful, Engaging, Active and Safe — was replaced with the insipid “Fun, Inclusive, Safe”.

And for 2024, the “multi-ability” child development model, from Create Development, was removed from Activator training, partly because some tutors found it too difficult to explain…

Personally, I found the multi-ability model a great aid in tutoring — “Look how complicated kids are! It’s no wonder they can sometimes get “stuck”. So don’t beat yourself up if it doesn’t work first time. But here are some other wheels you can try to get turning.”

Ditto with PEAS — “You are winning as an Activator if you can tick these off. ‘Cos some of the kids won’t ever want to bowl “properly” and never will. But they might Engage with a Purposeful session and be Active in a Safe environment. And that’s a win for the child. And for me!”

“Wants-based” coach education — rather than lecturing new Activators on what they should know, explain why they might need to know it so they want to find out.

They won’t all get it, or want to. And that certainly does not mean that they won’t become good Activators.

But the restricted curriculum limits their options for growth, beyond the formal Coach Development pathway. The multi-ability model, and a focus on PEAS, gives them an opportunity to be better.

So the modifications to the programme represent hugely disappointing changes, for someone who truly believed that the National Programmes were providing new Activators with a more sophisticated and flexible grounding in coaching children than the dated instructional model propounded by Coach Development in the Foundation and Core coach training.