Choosing a good Coaching School

Our readers often ask us if we know or can recommend a particular coaching school. As we only know the school where we personally trained as a coach, we cannot assess which school or course is better or best suited to what you are looking for. However, there are some questions that you can consider before deciding which school to go to for your coach training.

The first thing to do is to take paper and pencil (or computer :-)) and try to answer the following:

1. What is your motivation for studying coaching?
2. What significance will coaching have in your life?
3. At the end of your studies, what do you hope to have achieved?
4. What is your favourite method of learning or which do you find most efficient?
5. How important is the qualification you get, in relation to what you are going to learn (the course content)?
6. How do you plan to use coaching once you are qualified? Are you going to specialise in business coaching, personal coaching, sports coaching etc?
7. What have you learnt about yourself by answering the above questions?

Once you have all these points clear, you will have a solid foundation to begin your search for the school that best suits your needs. Contact several of them and ask about the points that are key for you. A master’s in coaching is usually a big investment, so you have to be sure that you have made the right decision.

Not all schools follow the same methods or place emphasis on the same kind of coaching. Some offer more theory, others are more practical, some are more face-to-face and others offer distance learning. Talk with the directors and teachers from the school. Do you like the way they explain what you want to know about coaching? Do they give you access to information about the courses in addition to what is available on the Internet?

Finally, look at forums and ask other people. We will gladly publish any information that we receive, always bearing in mind that everyone’s experience is very personal and that a school that is appropriate for one person may not be for another. You can leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section and tell us your experiences!