More on Coach-specific Education Hours

• What qualifies?

  Acceptable coach-specific education includes:

  • Training from an Accredited Coach Training Program (ACTP) or a program that has received the ICF Approved Coach Specific Training Hours (ACSTH) designation
  • Training from a Continuing Coach Education (CCE) provider, subject to these limitations:
    • All hours approved in Core Competencies will be accepted
    • A maximum of 12 hours outside of the Core Competencies will be accepted
  • Training that has not been previously approved by ICF and that is specifically marketed as teaching coaching skills or teaches how to apply technical skills in a coach-like manner and teaches coaching skills in accordance with the ICF Core Competencies (e.g., university-based training, training from a non-ICF-accredited organization)

  Unacceptable coach-specific education includes:

  • Training that is marketed as teaching other skills, even though the skills can be used by a coach in some manner
  • Personal development courses
  • Education in other areas such as psychology, counseling, NLP, etc., unless it was actually taught as coach training and from the perspective of the ICF Core Competencies

  Teaching coaching classes does not count as coach-specific education unless:

  • The applicant created the class
  • The applicant also taught the class
  • The training otherwise meets the definition of coach-specific training

  If all three of the above apply, the class may be counted only one time, not each time that the same class was delivered.

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• How are the hours calculated?

  Of the 60 hours required, at least 48 of the hours must be:

  • Student contact hours – clock hours spent in synchronous (real-time) interactions between faculty and students. This may include time spent in direct instruction (voice-to-voice or in-person training), real-time discussions, observation of and feedback on practice coaching sessions, and mentoring students.
  • Coach-specific training developed and delivered based on the ICF Core Competencies (all 11 ICF Core Competencies must be covered).

  Of the 60 hours required, no more than 12 of the hours may be:

  • Homework/Independent Study – clock hours spent outside of real-time interaction between faculty and students (asynchronous). These may include outside reading, writing, research, journaling and various other activities that may occur outside of the synchronous setting. All asynchronous hours must be part of the training program and require some method of validating that the activity was completed by the student.

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