What Qualifies as Mentor Coaching Education Hours

Working Guidance for Evaluating Eligible Education Activities

This document is intended to help determine what may count as mentor coaching education hours. It reflects a practical interpretation centered on whether the activity involves intentional learning aligned with the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies, rather than simply participation, observation, or informal discussion.

Note: This document is intended to provide general guidance on what may qualify as mentor coaching education hours. Final determinations are based on clear alignment with the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies and the presence of a structured educational component.

Core Principle

An activity may count as mentor coaching education when it:

•    is clearly connected to the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies 

•    involves a genuine learning or educational component

•    is part of a structured exercise, program, or organized developmental process

•    can reasonably be described as building a person’s capacity as a mentor coach

Activities are less likely to count when they are:

•    informal

•    self-directed without structure or oversight

•    not explicitly tied to mentor coaching development

•    primarily operational, administrative, or general professional development

General Guidance

A useful question to ask is:

Was this activity intentionally designed or used as mentor coach education, with a clear connection to the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies 

•    If yes, it may count.

•    If no, it probably would not.

Regardless of the type of education completed, you are required to submit documentation for ICF staff review, such as a certificate of completion, letter of attestation, or other supporting materials. If questions arise during the review process, ICF staff will contact you for clarification or additional

documentation.

Decision Guidance by Activity Type

1.    ICF accredited CCE courses focused on mentor coaching. Can this count?

Yes, usually.

When it can count

Most CCE courses that focus on mentor coaching will meet the education requirement. The course should be designed to develop mentor coaching skills, rather than to document mentor coaching hours or the experience of being mentored. To confirm eligibility, we recommend reviewing the course curriculum against the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies to ensure clear alignment.

What documentation do you need to submit

A certificate, letter, or email issued by the program provider with the name of the candidate, event/course, date, and the total number of educational hours completed. You may also be required to submit a course outline or syllabus that outlines the mentor coaching skills covered in the course.

2.    Non-ICF accredited courses focused on mentor coaching. Can this count?

Yes, usually.

When it can count

Non-accredited education may also meet the education requirement if the curriculum is clearly aligned with the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies. Accreditation is not required, but the learning should be designed to develop mentor coaching skills rather than simply document mentor coaching hours or the experience of being mentored. To assess whether it qualifies, we recommend reviewing the curriculum against the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies for clear alignment.

What documentation do you need to submit

• A certificate of completion, letter, or email issued by the provider with the name of the candidate, course/training, date, and number of training hours completed. 
  • Additional documentation may include: course curriculum and delivery method, course syllabus, summary, student manual, or course handouts or materials that demonstrate course content.

3.    Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3 Accredited programs. Can this count?

Generally, this does not count.

Why

Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 programs are intended to provide foundational and advanced education in coaching skills rather than mentor coaching. Coaching and mentor coaching are separate disciplines.

While some competencies may overlap, they are applied in meaningfully different ways. As a result, being a highly skilled coach does not necessarily mean a person is equipped to serve as an effective mentor coach.

What could count?

If the program is geared toward mentor coaching, or if there is a specific module on mentor coaching skills, these education hours might qualify.

What documentation do you need to submit

Certificate of completion of a program and a supplemental document that maps the curriculum to the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies.

4.    ICF accredited Advanced Accreditation in Mentor Coaching (AAMC) programs. Can this count?

Yes.

These programs are designed to meet the full requirements for the standard pathway for the Mentor Coaching Qualification. 

They are great for new mentor coaches, and for any experienced mentor coaches looking to brush up on their skills.

What documentation do you need to submit

A certificate, letter, or email issued by the program provider with the name of the candidate, event/course, date, and the total number of educational hours completed.

5.    Participation in calibration exercises. Can this count?

Yes, in some cases.

When it can count

Calibration may count toward asynchronous education hours when it is completed:

•    with the ICF Portfolio assessor community, or

•    with the ICF Coaching Education Assessor community, or

•    within a formal program as an intentional education exercise

What part of the calibration may count

Eligible time may include the parts of the calibration that function as education, such as:

•    listening to the recording

•    evaluating the session in preparation

•    engaging with the calibration as a structured learning exercise

This is especially appropriate when those activities are required as part of an organized educational process.

What likely does not count

Calibration should not automatically count when it is simply an informal professional discussion or unstructured peer comparison without a clear educational framework.

What documentation do you need to submit

A certificate of completion or letter of attestation that you participated in the calibration exercise and debriefing activities that indicates the total number of hours.

6.    Collective mentor coaching evaluation within an organization

Example: faculty members listen to and evaluate the same session together, but it is not a formal ICF calibration.

Can this count?

Only in limited cases.

When it can count

This can count only if it is built into an organization’s faculty development process as a practice-based learning activity.

When it should not count

It should not count when it is simply:

•    an informal gathering

•    a general faculty discussion

•    an unstructured internal calibration conversation

The determining factor is whether it is intentionally designed as education, not just collective review.

What documentation do you need to submit

A certificate of completion or letter of attestation that you participated in the calibration exercise and debriefing activities that indicates the total number of hours.

7.    Reviewing the mentor coaching competencies. Can this count?

Sometimes.

Individually

Reviewing the competencies on one’s own generally would not count. On its own, independent review does not necessarily demonstrate participation in education or learning beyond what anyone could do informally.

As part of a structured approach

This may count when the review is part of a more formal educational process, such as:

• a guided assignment within an organization
• homework in a mentor coach training program
• a facilitated learning sequence tied to application and reflection

In those cases, the activity is not just reading; it is part of a structured learning design.

What documentation do you need to submit

Documentation of the activities you completed during this review, including assignments, facilitation guides, and materials that show a structured learning experience.

8.    Delivering mentor coaching education. Can this count?

Generally, this does not count unless the following three requirements are met. If they are, then you may only count this type of class once, regardless of how many times it was taught.

•    You created the class.

•    You taught the class.

•    The course curriculum meets the definition of coach-specific education or training, including

direct interaction with instructors and alignment with the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies.

How much can count

A person may count one delivery of a mentor coaching education program toward their own education hours.

Why

Delivering the material can deepen competency and understanding, but repeated delivery of the same content should not continue to be counted as education in the same way.

What documentation do you need to submit

• Signed letter on the education program letterhead from a representative authorized to verify the instructional delivery. The letter must include the candidate’s name, role within the educational organization, the name of the program/course delivered, dates of the program/course, and the total number of training hours completed.
  • Supplemental documentation may include course curriculum and delivery method, course syllabus, summary, student manual, or course handouts or materials that demonstrate course content.

9.    Training for internal mentor coaches offered within accredited organizations. Can this count?

Yes.

Training does not need to come from an accredited program in order to count, provided the organization can show that the training is clearly aligned with the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies.

This is similar to how education may be evaluated in other credentialing contexts: accreditation may strengthen the case, but alignment to the relevant competencies is the more important standard.

What documentation do you need to submit

• Certificate of completion from your organization, or a signed letter on the education program letterhead from a representative authorized to verify the training completion. The letter must include the candidate’s name, role within the educational organization, the name of the program/course delivered, dates of the program/course, and the total number of training hours completed. 
  • Supplemental documentation may include course curriculum and delivery method, course syllabus, summary, student manual, or course handouts or materials that demonstrate course content.

10.    Courses on overlapping themes such as ethics, trust and safety, etc. Can this count?

Possibly, but only with a clear connection.

Courses on related topics may count if the learner or organization can explicitly demonstrate how the content supports the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies.

The connection should be direct and explicit. A course should not count simply because it is broadly relevant to coaching. 

Otherwise, there is a risk of treating general credentialing education as if it were mentor coaching education, and those are not the same thing.

A good test is:

•    Was the course clearly used to develop mentor coaching capability?

•    Can the participant explain how the learning maps to mentor coaching competencies? If not, it likely would not count.

What documentation do you need to submit

• Certificate of completion from your organization, or a signed letter on the education program letterhead from a representative authorized to verify the training completion. The letter must include the candidate’s name, role within the educational organization, the name of the program/course delivered, dates of the program/course, and the total number of training hours completed. 
  • Supplemental documentation may include course curriculum and delivery method, course syllabus, summary, student manual, or course handouts or materials that demonstrate course content.

11.    Coaching supervision training. Can this count?

Yes, sometimes.

What parts can count?

If the learner or organization can explicitly demonstrate how the content supports the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies. The connection should be direct and explicit.

A good test is:

•    Was the course clearly used to develop mentor coaching capability?

•    Can the participant explain how the learning maps to mentor coaching competencies?

What documentation do you need to submit

• Certificate of completion of a coaching supervision program and a supplemental document that maps the curriculum to the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies.