Problem-Solving and Error Correction as Drivers of Progress
- 7 hours ago
- 1 min read
The IQF Level Descriptors are grounded in a critical rationalist view of practice.
At the centre of this view is the idea that there is a physical reality, and that all aspects of S&C practice take place within it. Athletes are real biological systems. Training interventions create real physical effects. Practice and performance environments involve real constraints, trade-offs, and consequences.
This means that all aspects of S&C can be framed as problems to be understood and influenced.
For example:
How do we improve a particular athlete's jumping ability in a given context?
Why is an intervention working in one context but not another?
What is limiting adaptation?
Which outcome matters most?
What should be changed, retained, or removed?
Progress depends on developing better knowledge. However, it is essential that knowledge is not understood narrowly as only explicit facts, empirical evidence, or formal theory. In applied S&C, knowledge also includes implicit understanding, embodied skill, coaching behaviours, contextual awareness, practical judgement, and the ability to act effectively in real environments.
Because practitioners are fallible, and because knowledge will always remain incomplete, progress therefore depends on ongoing error correction.
This does not simply mean standardised testing or measurement. It means a commitment to refining all aspects of the practitioner process: defining problems more clearly, improving methods of implementation, interpreting feedback more accurately, distinguishing signal from noise, and revising decisions when better explanations become available.
In this view, high-quality S&C practice is defined by the ability to identify, understand, and correct error more effectively over time, allowing practitioners to solve more problems, more effectively.
Read and download the full white paper here:
