The International Federation of Esports Coaches (IFoEC) has announced its Level 1 Educator and Esports Coaching courses are now CPD certified.
CPD stands for Continuing Professional Development, a term that covers learning activities designed to boost skills in a professional’s career.
The UK-based federation said in a blog post on the IFoEC website: “In the realm of esports, and contrary to sports like football or athletics, research has shown that coaches haven’t had much of a structured career path to follow.
“CPD can be a useful milestone on a learning pathway, providing coaches with tangible markers for personal and professional growth. At IFoEC, we recently celebrated receiving CPD certification for our Level 1 Esports Coaching and Educator Level 1 courses, marking a fairly pivotal moment in the recognition of esports coaching as a professional discipline.
“Whilst we would never say that coaches have to take our courses, those that do now have a very tangible way of evidencing their commitment to coaching excellence.”
International Federation of Esports Coaches
The CPD Certification Service was established in 1996, and says it’s ‘the world’s leading and largest independent CPD accreditation institution operating across all industry sectors’.
The service provides support, advice and recognised CPD accreditation for professional bodies and academic institutes.
Others accredited by the CPD include the FA, Financial Times, Mitsubishi, RAF, KCL, Cambridge and Oxford universities and more.
Matthew Watson, Director of Learning & Development at the International Federation of Esports Coaches, told Esports News UK: “I’m delighted that our Level 1 courses have received CPD certification, and very grateful to the IFoEC team for everyone’s hard work getting them to this stage.
“We’ve worked hard to listen to coaches over the years and conduct much-needed research to inform our work, and I’d like to think these courses reflect the needs of coaches and the industry in general.
“There’s much more to be done to support coaches of course, but we’re getting there.”
Matthew also said that the inaugural Esports Coaching & Performance Summit went well a few months ago, with many people learning, sharing and connecting, and that it will return for 2024.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
