Reflections on reflection Some personal experiences of delivering higher education coach education

The last two decades have witnessed significant growth in the academic and practical attention given to the preparation and ongoing development of coaches (Cushion, 2006; Knowles, Borrie & Telfer, 2005; Knowles, Gilbourne, Borrie & Nevill, 2001; Lyle & Cushion, 2010). In many ways, reflection has arguably become, at least in a rhetorical sense, the ‘grand idée’ (Jay & Johnson, 2002, p. 73) that underpins much of the education and continuing professional development (CPD) of coaching practitioners (Cassidy, Jones & Potrac, 2009; Nelson & Cushion, 2006; Gilbourne, Marshall & Knowles, 2013). Indeed, there has been an increasing recognition of the benefits of helping coaches to learn from their practical experiences in a meaningful and productive manner and, relatedly, to combine theory with practice in ways that might avoid the pitfalls associated with both ‘technical rationality’ and the ‘fallacy of theoryless practice’ (Cassidy et al., 2009). In this respect, numerous coaching scholars (e.g., Cassidy, Potrac & McKenzie, 2006; Cassidy et al., 2009; Gilbert & Trudel, 2001, 2005; Jones, 2006, among others) have promoted critical reflection as a valuable educational tool for helping to prepare coaches for the often dynamic, messy and ethically demanding challenges of practice.