The Coaching Academy Blog

Jan Lonnen, The Coaching Academy Qualifications Manager explores the question…

According to Wikipedia, Accreditation is a process in which certification of competency, authority, or credibility is presented. The accreditation process ensures that certification practices are acceptable, typically meaning that they are competent to test and certify 3rd parties, behave ethically and employ suitable quality assurance.

Currently the coaching world is an unregulated one and therefore no specific awarding body for coaching qualifications exists. This is not likely to be changing in the UK for the foreseeable future, due to the complexities involved.

Having recently attended a debate on this very subject, it was generally agreed that the coaching industry is not yet mature enough to be regulated. Part of the debate compared the coaching world to another profession that has recently been through professional regulation and the process that they followed. The timeline connected to such regulations can exceed 7 years in duration and this process generally starts when there is a majority vote from the professionals in favour of the move and one body is accepted to be the suitable body. The Health Professions Council (HPC) is widely thought to be most suitable for coaching though this is not unanimous.

A large number of organisations have their own internal qualification for coaching. The ones that carry the most weight are those who request an external body to review and approve the internal qualification.

The Coaching Academy currently has 4 external endorsements and accreditations, which highlight the strength of the training and the quality assurance procedures that we deliver. These are:

• OCN - Open College Network
• ODLQC - Open and Distance Learning Quality Council
• ILM - Institute of Leadership and Management
• EDI - Education Development International

Part of my role within The Coaching Academy is to constantly monitor these external bodies to ascertain the validity and benefits of seeking accreditations from other bodies. The Coaching Academy aims to always be at the forefront of the profession and will enhance the provision as new coaching techniques evolve.

Coaching memberships:

As The Coaching Academy has worldwide recognition your coaching diploma can be used to gain affiliations with a large number of membership organisations.

Currently there is no hard and fast rule that guides you as to which organisation you should become affiliated with. When making such a decision our advice would be to consider your research into the organisation and your options resulting from this research. Perhaps look into the history of the organisation, who are they linked with? Have they been established by another organisation to provide themselves with accreditation? What are the benefits to you as a coach being affiliated with the organisation? Should you belong to more than one?
Only you will know the impact such questions will have on you and your coaching.

For more information regarding The Coaching Academy accreditations please refer to the Accreditation Booklet that can be downloaded from the home page of the members area or by contacting Jan Lonnen on qualifications@the-coaching-academy.com