David Stephens

David is a Lecturer in Sport Coaching & Physical Education and Course Leader for Applied Sport Science & Coaching. He specialises in coach learning and performance analysis. He is qualified in teaching and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Outside of ARU, David is an active coach and a Lead Coach Developer for England Athletics.

[email protected]

Connect with David on LinkedIn

@davestephens7 on X

Background

Prior to working at ARU, David was a lecturer at University Campus of Football Business at Wembley Stadium and has extensive teaching and leadership experience within further education settings. Outside of education, David has worked as a performance analyst in high performance sport.

David initially joined ARU in 2019 to start a PhD, focusing on the redevelopment of expertise of novice coach educators at England Athletics, which is near completion. Other research projects in developing professional practice in performance analysis and student transitions into higher education study are underway.

Research interests

• Coach Education & Learning
• Performance Analysis
• Teaching & Learning
• Expertise Development

Teaching

BSc (hons) Sport Coaching & Physical Education

BSc (hons) Applied Sport Science & Coaching [Top Up]

Qualifications

• PhD in progress at ARU
• Postgraduate Certificate in Learning & Teaching in Higher Education (ARU)
• MSc in Performance Coaching (University of Stirling)
• BSc in Sport Studies (University of Hertfordshire)

Memberships, editorial boards

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Member of the Cluster for Research into Sport Coaching

International Society of Performance Analysis of Sport (pending)

Selected recent publications

Stephens, D., Stodter, A. and Timmis, M., 2024. Who Coaches the Coaches? Exploring the Biographies of Novice Athletics Coach Education Tutors. International Sport Coaching Journal, 1(aop), pp.1-11. https://doi.org/10.1123/iscj.2022-0112

Recent presentations and conferences

Stephens, D., Stodter, A. and Timmis, M., 2023. Educating the educators: Redeveloping expertise in the transition from coach to coach education tutor. Cluster for Research in Coaching Symposium. Liverpool John Moores University, 12 June 2023.

Stephens, D., Stodter, A. and Timmis, M., 2021. Who coaches the coaches? Exploring the biographies of England Athletics coach education tutors. QRSE ECR/PGR Research Conference. Online, 8-9 April 2021.