Continuing Coach Education (CCE)

Congratulations! You’ve done the work, acquired your coaching hours, put in time with a coach mentor, and you’ve finally achieved your ICF coaching credential! This is an amazing first step in your journey to building a thriving coaching practice or implementing coaching with your company. As you know, coaching is a profession built around the coach’s knowledge, understanding, and implementation of the 8 core coaching competencies. This means that maintaining your credential is just as important as maintaining your credential. 

After receiving your coaching credential, you’ll receive a memo from the ICF letting you know that your credential is valid for three years, at which point it will need to be renewed. This process requires continuing coach education and training to ensure that you are keeping up with important advances and changes in the coaching industry.

What is a CCE?

Continuing Coach Education (CCE) is an important aspect of the coach accreditation renewal process. Every coach, regardless of credential level, must complete at least 40 hours of coach training in the three years between receiving their coach credential and renewal. These 40 hours (sometimes referred to as units) can only be obtained through an ICF CCE approved training program. Failure to obtain these hours can result in the expiration of your coaching credential. 

Why is Continuing Coach Education (CCE) Important?

Like people in many other professions, the coaching profession recognizes the importance of continuing education. This education goes beyond the benefit to the coach and goes straight to benefitting the client. Skills like Level 2 Listening and Powerful Questions are essential to the coaching process and require ongoing refinement and practice. 

In addition, coaching skills, tools, and practices are forever evolving. As new research emerges, credible coach training schools work diligently to incorporate important findings into their curriculum. This cutting edge material is the kind of education that will keep you ahead of your competition and continue to add credibility to your credentials. 

Types of CCEs

Core Competencies

Of the 40 hours required for CCEs, 24 of those hours must be in Core Competencies. These are the same Core Competencies on which the Coach Training EDU™ training was built. Continuing Coaching Education in Core Competencies include things like communication, active listening, goal setting, and managing accountability. 

Coaching Ethics

The ICF requires that a minimum of three of the 24 Core Competencies Continuing Coaching Education Units (CCEUs) be in coaching ethics. This is offered through ICF’s free online course, or you can find an ethics-specific training. These can be found through ICF CCE-accredited programs or ICF Chapter events.  

Mentor Coaching 

Ten Mentor Coaching hours are also required in addition to the Mentor Coaching hours from your initial certification. These ten mentor hours can be counted as ten of the 40 hours for the CCEs in Core Competencies. 

Resource Development

This category encompasses anything that falls outside of the Core Competencies. Professional development topics such as business building, niche building, new coaching tools, assessment certifications, etc. all count toward CCEs in resource development. 

What CTEDU offers 

Continuing Coach Education (CCE) courses at Coach Training EDU™ offers coaches the opportunity to obtain the needed hours to maintain, develop, or renew International Coaching Federation credential(s). Because our program is ACTP certified, just about all of our programs qualify as CCE courses. 

Please head to our Events Page for a list of upcoming CCE Units. 

Maintaining ICF Credentials 

Regardless of credential, every ICF certified coach must renew their credentials every three years. The Associate credential has a slightly different process than the Professional and Master credentials. You can review the full requirements here. 

ACC

To maintain your ACC ICF credential, you will need to complete the following: 

1. Submit an online renewal application through the ICF website. 
2. Receive 10 hours of Mentor Coaching. This must be completed across a minimum span of 3 months. 
3. Obtain 40 hours of Continuing Coach Education (CCE). 

a. At least 24 of the 40 hours must be in Core Competencies. 

i. Up to 10 Mentor Coaching hours can count toward Core Competency hours. 

ii. At least 3 of these hours should be completed in Coaching Ethics. 

b. 16 of the 40 hours can be in Resource Development.

PCC & MCC

To maintain your ACC or MCC ICF credential, you will need to complete the following:

1. Submit an online renewal application through the ICF website. 
2. Obtain 40 hours of Continuing Coach Education (CCE). 

a. At least 24 of the 40 hours must be in Core Competencies. 

i. At least 3 of these hours should be completed in Coaching Ethics. 

b. 16 of the 40 hours can be in Resource Development.