This scoping review examined how workplace learning (WPL) contributes to the professional development of sports coaches across diverse organisational and cultural contexts. Drawing on seventeen peer-reviewed studies, the review mapped key theoretical, methodological, and practical approaches that conceptualise coach learning as a complex, relational, and situated process. Guided by the Joanna Briggs Institute and PRISMA-ScR protocols, the review synthesised evidence from multiple theoretical frameworks, including workplace learning theory, social learning theory, continuous learning in organisations, and ecological and systems perspectives, to provide an integrated understanding of how coach learning is shaped within workplace environments. Findings indicate that WPL is largely informal and experiential, shaped by the interplay between coaches’ individual agency and the affordances of their work environments. Organisational cultures, leadership practices, and collaborative learning structures such as mentoring, communities of practice, and reflective feedback loops emerged as central mechanisms that enable meaningful and sustained learning. Conversely, hierarchical pressures, professional isolation, and organisational instability were found to constrain opportunities for reflection, innovation, and long-term growth. The synthesis highlights the need to move beyond traditional dichotomies between formal and informal learning, recognising learning as both emergent and intentionally organised. Conceptualising sport organisations as adaptive learning ecosystems provides a framework for integrating individual, collective, and institutional dimensions of professional growth. This review clarifies the conditions under which workplace learning is more likely to support sustained coach development across different contexts. From a practical perspective, the findings offer guidance for coaches and sport organisations by identifying conditions that support more consistent and reflective learning environments.
Lima et al. (Thu,) studied this question.