Mountaineering National Source Group
Taking Coaching in Mountaineering Forward
The three mountaineering councils MCofS, BMC and MCofI, and Mountain Leader Training UK meet to discuss issues that impact across Britain and Ireland through the Mountaineering Coordination Group (MCG). In autumn 2006 the MCG tasked a working group, the National Source Group (NSG), to investigate the issue of coaching provision within Mountaineering (the term ‘Mountaineering’ is used here to describe all the disciplines of climbing, hill walking and mountaineering).
This page will keep you up to date with the progress of the development of coaching by the NSG.
UK and Ireland Agreement on FUNdamentals Workshop Programme (1st october 2010)
This week the National Councils (British Mountaineering Council, Mountaineering Council of Scotland and Mountaineering Ireland)and MLT took a quantum leap forward inthe development ofa coaching qualifications pathway: a formal agreement to work to a shared syllabus for LTPD in UK and Ireland.
LTPD = Long Term Participant Development in case you're wondering, also known as LTAD, the A standing for Athlete - there was much fun at the meeting trying to work out which members of the group were athletes and which were participants. The best known component of the LTPD/LTAD concept is FUNdamentals, coming to a wall near you soon!
After the meeting Kevin Howett, the Development Officer for MCofS issued the following statement: "We are developing a coaching pathway in Scotland with the support and advice of sportscotland. The first step in this is a FUNdamentals of Climbing course, a syllabus for which we have been developing with their help. At the meeting of the National Source Group led by MLT on the 29th September we were pleased to gain agreement across Britain and Ireland to amalgamate our respective syllabuses, refining the successful workshops already delivered by BMC in England to produce a UK standard course. We hope to start delivering the new course in Scotland in the New Year, and use it to start the training and endorsement of an expanded number of Scottish climbing coaches, who will then help in developing and delivering the follow-on level courses of learning to Train and Elite Training."
In addition to agreeing to merge the draft syllabi, we also agreed on a principle of "team training" throughout the UK, as part of an ongoing move towards harmonisation and external valuation throughout the UK. This helps pave the way for these workshops to eventuallybe integrated into the coaching qualifications pathway that MLT is developing and implementing over the next two years. This means that canny coaches will be able to keep "a step ahead of the game" by following the LTPD workshops as they are introduced: LTPD is already being piloted underthe working title of "Learning to Train" (though "FUNdamentals II", or "conSOLIDation" may be a more suitable title for this interpretation of this phase for climbers)
Mountain Leader Training to Coordinate NSG (2008)
The responsibility for taking Option 3.3 of the NSG Report forward has been given to MLTUK. Steve Long will act as coordinator. In the meantime the BMC and MCofS will continue to develop workshops in varying aspects of coaching (e.g. FUNdamentals) which will lead in to the final coaching system.
National Source Group Report (2008)
The NSG members were Brian Griffiths (Chair), Steve Long (MLTUK & BMG, Secretary), Dave Binney & Jon Garside (BMC), Mark Reeves (BMC Cymru), Kev Howett & Dave Macleod (MCofS), Angela Carlin & Eddie Cooper (MCI), Neil Johnson (MLTW), Allen Fyffe (MLTS), Trevor Fisher (MLTNI / Tollymore), Martin Chester (Plas y Brenin), George McEwan (Glenmore Lodge) and Neil Gresham (Independent).
Over the course of 15 months and six meetings, the NSG consulted on the issue with a range of interests, and the MCofS commissioned two reports (funded by sportscotland) to help discussion.
A final report has been produced and was presented to the MCG in September. In this report the NSG suggest a range of options for taking the process forward and made recommendations for the next steps. The MCG recognised the development of a coaching system was a priority for mountaineering and agreed to the recommendations of the NSG as follows:
- Development of a coaching system to be recognised as a priority for Mountaineering.
- Funding is sought from the home nation sports councils to support coaching developments
- The NSG, or similar representative body, is tasked with:
- investigating the implications of adopting (or not) the UK Coaching Framework,
- producing detailed and costed plan(s) of the option(s) selected by the MCG. The options as highlighted in section 3 of this report.
- For the option(s) selected by the MCG, take account of the HSE recognition of the four equal methods of demonstrating competency:
- to hold a relevant qualification
- to hold an equivalent qualification
- to have received appropriate in-house training
- to be competent through experience.
Read the National Source Group Report on "Coaching in Mountaineering - A Possible Futrure for Coaching Awards" (2008) HERE
Next Steps:
As a first step, the MCG decided that option 3.3 of the report should be investigated further. To this end, the NSG is tasked with reporting on the cost and feasibility of developing a parallel coaching system in conjunction with the current Mountain Leader Training awards.
