Within the literature that focuses on how to improve sport coaching there is the criticism that “…coach education was founded on a technical rationality model focused on the delivery of sport science knowledge out of context and assumed a novice-expert coach continuum.â€? (Trudel & Gilbert, 2006). Part of the response to this criticism has been to call for coaches to become reflective practitioners and for action research and critical pedagogy to be used as ‘tools’ to develop reflective practice. This paper offers an outsider’s perspective on the relevance, need and possibilities for critical pedagogy within the field of sport coaching, In particular it will provide an account of the centrality of reflection in coach education and connect reflection, action research and critical pedagogy with particular human interests and particular discourses. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.