A case study exploration into the professional duties of a Super League Academy Manager: Creating an individualised learning plan using the Talent Development Self Navigation Framework (TDSNF)

Abstract

This study investigated the professional duties of a professional rugby league Academy Manager (AM) with the explicit aim of identifying bespoke development needs through the operation of the Talent Development Self Navigation Framework (TDSNF). This study adopts an original embodied pedagogy approach grounded in a critical realist view of the participant’s
Talent Development domain. The paper presents a full description of the framework’s application as a case study example of the TDSNF in practice. Findings acknowledge how the facilitated TDSNF helped the AM reflect more fully on his ‘real world’ and ‘foundational wants and needs’ to co-create both an individual learning plan for himself and a TD development plan for his
Academy team. Feedback on the framework’s content, structure, process and outputs was extremely positive. Significant implications in adopting this approach more widely for coach education and learning are then presented