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July 21, 2008
The process of accreditation
I've been working with a member of the Association for Coaching as they prepare their portfolio for accreditation... I went through the process myself last year.
It took a considerable amount of work and included:
> collating a history of coaching hours
> a record of my supervision with supporting references
> a record my continuing professional development, with supporting documents
> a case study of a coaching project
> my philosophy of coaching and the theories and models that underpin my practice
At the time I remarked to myself that this was all "evidence on paper" and no one in the assessor team has actually heard me coaching. This raised questions in my mind about the efficacy of the process. However, as the head of accreditation remarked on this aspect, taping calls for scrutiny does not necessarily bring out the best in some of us, while the process of critically reflecting on a piece of work gives us the opportunity to demonstrate our awareness of self and other, our knowledge of the process and the part that we play in co-creating the coaching relationship.
In fact, while it took time and thought, I found this whole exercise extremely rewarding and affirming. In reflecting on my work from so many different angles in the context of many years of training and practice, again I became aware of the complexity and depth of the work that we do as coaches.
I also feel very privileged to share with another person, the coachee, the process of identifying and facilitating some of the changes they wish to make. I was pleased when my application was successful and I am now an Accredited Coach with Association of Coaching.
Posted by Alison at July 21, 2008 09:34 AM
