Coaching for Development Course — Centre for Coaching Switzerland

Coaching for Development Course

Imagine what you could accomplish with the power to build capabilities and evoke excellence within only 6 months

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Coaching for Development Course

What is our Coaching for Development course?

University accreditation through:

Professional accreditation through:

 

Coaching for Development (CfD) is a six-month online programme in the study and application of Integral Coaching. It is an intensive coach training and apprenticeship programme designed for participants to emerge as coach practitioners, able to see the world through someone else’s eyes, and at the same time able to skillfully coach them to improved performance in any aspect of their lives. This course is ideal for those who are interested in evoking excellence in others while also being open to receiving coaching themselves so they too can bring forward excellence in their own endeavours.

CfD is taught in English, the course materials are in English, and assignments are required to be submitted in English. We do, however, have a faculty team that can support those whose home language is French.   

Participants meet as a group for three modules. Learning takes place in many different ways:

  • Group sessions — flow and philosophy of coaching; exploration of coaching models.
  • Individually — reflections, assignments, your own development as a coach.
  • In small groups called learning pods — supported by your mentor coach, a Professional Coaching Course (PCC) graduate.
  • In pairs with a self-chosen buddy coach from the class.

The balance of work between modules is self-paced, including readings, written assignments, and three detailed case-study applications of this coaching method with clients.

Each delegate receives written feedback on each of their assignments – a rich source of learning and reflection.

There is on-going support provided by the Centre for Coaching faculty over the six months.

Next course dates:
CfD1: Jan – Sept 2025
CfD2: March – Nov 2025
CfD3: July 2025 – March 2026

Total 8 days
combined in blocks of
3 virtual sessions

Bi-monthly virtual
learning pod with
your mentor

Price
CHF 750/monthly*

Flexible learning
approx. 2 – 3 hrs per
week

Reflections
for your individual
growth & development
as a coach

*The six-month payment plan excludes the deposit application fee of CHF 300. Contact us for other payment plans.

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Coaching for Development course is for you if you are:

  • A leader or manager who wants to support and sustain the development of new competencies in your team.
  • An advisor, coach or human resource specialist looking to expand your own capabilities and those of your organisation.
  • A consultant or private practitioner who wants to deepen or develop your coaching skill set as you support your clients.
  • A trainer or facilitator wishing to obtain an ICF-credentialed coach certification.
  • A person wanting to step into a different career path.
  • A person willing to freely question your own assumptions and explore integral methods to enable sustainable personal growth.
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You will walk away with:

  1. A coaching certificate in an Integral approach to coaching through the Centre for Coaching, as well as the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business Executive Education department, and New Ventures West (USA).
  2. Ability to apply to the International Coach Federation (ICF) for your credential as a coach. The Coaching for Development course provides the requirements needed, including 90 hours of ICF Approved Coach Specific Training Hours (ACSTH).
  3. Access to the Centre for Coaching alumni network, consisting of senior leaders and practitioners in every industry.

Course outline 2025/26


6 MONTHS – 3 MODULES – 8 CONTACT DAYS

CfD 1

Module 1: Foundations of Coaching
Start: 29.01 – 31.01.2025
Module 2: Extending Coaching Impact
Start: 26.03 – 28.03.25
Module 3: Deepening Coaching Practice
Start: 24.07- 25.07.2025

CfD 2

Module 1: Foundations of Coaching
Start: 21.05 – 23.05.2025
Module 2: Extending Coaching Impact
Start: 06.08 – 08.08.2025
Module 3: Deepening Coaching Practice
Start: 27.11 – 28.11.2025

CfD 3

Module 1: Foundations of Coaching
Start: 03.09 – 05.09.2025
Module 2: Extending Coaching Impact
Start: 12.11 – 14.11.2025
Module 3: Deepening Coaching Practice
Start: 05.03.2026 – 06.03.2026

Download the course brochure for a complete description of each session.

5 Reasons to become a coach

Making the decision to become a coach can be life-changing. Not only for yourself but for those you care about and interact with.

  1. Becoming a coach you can offer so much to others and make the world better from a place of wisdom, maturity, and experience.
  2. You can fulfill your aim to help others as a coach to build confidence and capabilities, to grow personally, and improve people’s performance.
  3. You will evoke excellence in yourself and in others. Your outlook will change, and you will be able to see this world through someone else’s eyes.
  4. Becoming a qualified coach, you will also have the opportunity of building a coaching practice, coaching people when and where you want to.
  5. You will learn to bring your whole self to life through the power of Integral Coaching. The integral approach explores all the constitutive elements of being human: spiritual, cognitive, emotional, relational, and somatic. It allows everyone to uncover their ability to continuously awaken and deepen so that life flourishes and is saturated with meaning, belonging, and contribution.
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Transfer of Credit policy

Should something happen to prevent you from completing your Coaching for Development online program in a particular calendar year, we will allow you to transfer to another Coaching for Development program in the same calendar year at no extra charge. You may not substitute another person in your place. 

Our integral methodology and programme teaching design is set up in such a way that it builds slowly and experientially, embedded in the physical experience of learning and being with your fellow students. Because of this, we do not allow participants to bring in hours from other ICF-accredited programmes as a way of  reducing the number of hours required to achieve our Coaching for Development course completion.  

Your Course Leader

Your Course Leader

Janine Ahlers

Academic Director BA PDM (HR)
LRSM MBA MCC

Janine Ahlers is a Master Certified Integral Coach and Director of the Centre for Coaching Consulting (Europe, Africa and Middle East), a global leadership consultancy and executive coaching practice, as well as Director of the Centre for Coaching, a centre for excellence situated at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business (GSB). She also holds the position of Senior Lecturer at UCT, where she lectures in Coaching and Leadership Development to MBA and Executive Education students. She has delivered and published research papers, as well as having published book chapters and articles on the topic of coaching in leadership development.

A virtual education that sets you apart

This programme is delivered online under the stringent coaching certification requirements of New Ventures West (San Francisco), the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and the Graduate School of Business of the University of Cape Town:

Gain verifiable and relevant competencies and earn invaluable recognition from a top FT 50 Business School (GSB, Cape Town), a coaching pioneering school (NVW, San Francisco) and the Centre For Coaching (CFC, Cape Town)

Feel supported at every step through the on-going support provided by Centre for Coaching faculty over the six months.
Enjoy learning in small groups (learning pods) — facilitated by your mentor coach, a Professional Coaching Course (PCC) graduate.

Learning takes place in many different ways: Group sessions: flow and philosophy of coaching; exploration of coaching models. Individually: reflections, assignments, your own development as a coach. In pairs:with a self-chosen buddy coach from the class.

 


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Coaching for Development Application Process

If you are interested in the Coaching for Development course, please email us at info@centreforcoaching.ch

We can set up a call with one of our senior lecturers to understand if our course is suitable for you. Just contact our Programme Manager at yael.duncan@centreforcoaching.ch to set up a call.

If you would like to apply right away, please indicate this in the comments section and we will send you our Application Form.

Frequently asked questions

Watch the video to get answers to common coaching questions.

What is an integral approach to coaching?

How can coaching help improve my performance and experiences in life?

What are the
fundamentals of the
Centre for Coaching?

1. How is an integral approach to coaching different from other models of coaching?

Coaching grounded in an integral approach takes a holistic approach to personal and professional development by taking into account the mental, emotional and physical aspects of a client – so that true insights arise and lasting growth can take place. Other forms of coaching may only focus on one aspect of a person – e.g. your career – and work on that area in isolation.

2. What can I expect from the CfD programme?

Participants meet as a group for three modules. Learning takes place in many different ways:

Group sessions – flow and philosophy of coaching; exploration of coaching models.

Individually – reflections, assignments, your own development as a coach.

In small groups called Learning Pods – supported by your Mentor coach, who is a Professional Coaching Course (PCC) graduate.

In pairs with a self-chosen Buddy Coach from the class.

The balance of work between modules is self-paced, including readings, written assignments, and three detailed case-study applications of this coaching method with clients.

Each delegate receives written feedback on each of their assignments – a rich source of learning and reflection

There is on-going support provided by the Centre for Coaching faculty over the six months.

3. What international experience and approach does the Centre for Coaching bring to their programmes?

For over 15 years, the Centre for Coaching is now clearly established as a centre for excellence, based at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business, a world top 100 executive graduate school. Today, the Centre for Coaching is present in South Africa, Australia and Switzerland, in addition to linking to over 25 years of cutting edge coaching course development through its alliance with New Ventures West in San Francisco.

4. Who is the course for?

This course is ideal for those who are interested in evoking excellence in others while also being open to receiving coaching themselves so they too can bring forward excellence in their own endeavours.

 

60% of participants in this programme are not necessarily aiming to become coaches themselves, but rather are looking to become more effective at what they do by building the capabilities of the people with whom they interact. Participants who have gained value from CfD include but are not limited to:

 

  • Advisors, coaches, and human resource specialists looking to expand capabilities throughout their organization.
  • Consultants and private practitioners wanting to deepen or develop their coaching skill set as they support client growth.
  • People willing to freely question their assumptions and try out new methods
  • Those wishing to obtain an ICF-credentialed coach certification
  • Those wishing to step into a different career path

 

Imagine what you could accomplish with the power to build capabilities and evoke excellence in others within only 6 months.

 

Contact us to set up a call with one of our directors to explore if the Coaching for Development is the right fit for you.

5. Will I receive a coaching certification following my completion of the CfD programme?

Yes. The Coaching for Development (CfD) is a stand-alone, fully complete programme that gives you a coaching certificate in an Integral approach to coaching through the Centre for Coaching, the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business Executive Education department, and New Ventures West (USA).

Further FAQ

Video Testimonials

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“Thank you for providing a course that has resulted in me finding not only new skills, but also a new way of being. Thank you especially for the innovation and dedication that you and the wonderful members of your faculty have shown – it is such an excellent modelling of how we are to be in this world. Was about to say it goes without saying…, but I will stop and say, before I go, that I received enormous value from the course, and that I think you and those members of faculty who gave of their time and input to guide us are providing a service that is truly noteworthy and necessary for future-proofing. Thank you to you all.”

Robin Allen

Robin Allen

Head of Clinical Services, Lentegeur Psychiatric Hospital

The International Coach Federation

The International Coach Federation is the leading global organisation dedicated to advancing the coaching profession by setting high standards, providing independent certification and building a worldwide network of trained coaching professionals. Under the auspices of our learning partner, New Ventures West, completion of Coaching for Development will earn you 90 Approved Coach Specific Training Hours (ACSTH). Coaching for Development is a prerequisite for the one-year Professional Coaching Course, which is an Accredited Coach Training Programme through the ICF. The Professional Coaching Course is also run under the auspices of our learning partner, New Ventures West. For more information on how to become or find an ICF-credentialed coach, please visit coachfederation.org

 

The Centre for Coaching

The Centre for Coaching is based at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business (GSB) – one of Africa’s leading business schools. Its courses form part of the GSB Executive Education suite of offerings and are informed by both academic rigour and coaching practice. www.gsb.uct.ac.za

 

New Ventures West

The Centre for Coaching is present in South Africa, Australia and now in Switzerland, and is affiliated to New Ventures West. New Ventures West, one of the leading coaching schools in the USA, founded in 1987 and present on 5 continents, is a San Francisco based organisation dedicated to having people be both effective and fulfilled in their work as integral coaches. www.newventureswest.com

 

Comensa

Launched in April 2006, Coaches and Mentors of South Africa (COMENSA) is an inclusive, umbrella professional association for individual and corporate providers, buyers and trainers of coaching and mentoring services.The Centre for Coaching is a registered Training Institution and Coaching/Mentoring Company member of COMENSA. The Centre for Coaching Facilitators, Craig O’Flaherty and Janine Ahlers, are also both members.