Designed for ICF-credentialed coaches · 16 weeks · Live virtual
60 education hours · ICF MCS Standard Path education
Mentor Coach Specialization
Coach Academy · Mentor Coach Education · 2027
Welcome
Mentoring coaches is its own craft.
From January 1, 2027, every ICF credential candidate's mentor coaching hours must come from a mentor who holds the MCS. This program is how you get there.
The Mentor Coach Specialization Program is a 16-week, live virtual program for ICF-credentialed coaches who want to mentor other coaches to credential-level skill: observing coaching with evidence, making fair formative appraisals, giving feedback that grows coaches, and guiding development over time.
The program opens where lasting change begins: with your own purpose as a mentor. Grounded in Intentional Change Theory and Self-Determination Theory, every module starts with participation. You'll practice in a learning trio for all 16 weeks, keep a mentor journal, and close with a capstone portfolio and an observed session.
Earn 60 hours of mentor coach education, the required education to apply for the ICF Mentor Coach Specialization (MCS), built to also meet the standards of ICF's Advanced Accreditation in Mentor Coaching (AAMC).
The first life to change is yours.
The details
Program at a glance
- Program
- Mentor Coach Specialization · Designed for ICF-Credentialed Coaches
- Format
- Live, Virtual, Weekly
- Length
- 16 modules, 1 per week: 11 classes of 2 hours, 5 classes of 3 hours for mentor observations
- ICF education hours
- 60
- Practicum
- 5 observed mentor coaching sessions · Written faculty feedback on 3 mentor sessions
- Mentoring on mentoring
- 5 hours in class, with MCS faculty
- Cohort
- 12 to 21 participants
- Prerequisites
- An eligible, active ICF credential
- Start date
- February 17, 2027 · 10 AM ET
- Classroom access
- Course duration + 3 months
- Offered
- Twice per year · next cohort October 2027: $4,800 ($4,500 returning)
- Tuition · Pilot price
- $3,900 plus applicable taxes · $3,600 for returning Coach Academy students · 2 instalment payments available
How you earn full credit
- Attend the live weekly modules
- Complete the weekly pre-work and mentor journal
- Complete the practicum: 5 observed sessions with a practice mentee
- Present your capstone portfolio and observed session
What you achieve
- 60 hours of mentor coach education: the ICF MCS Standard Path requirement
- Built to meet ICF's AAMC standards
- Proven frameworks to observe, appraise and grow coaches
- A Certificate of Completion with attestation, mapped to the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies
Classroom access ends 3 months after the last day of the course. Companion requirement: ICF evaluation training (ACC BARS, PCC Markers, MCC BARS) for each level sought is completed separately on the ICF platform. Coach Academy provides mentor coach education designed to align with the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies and the Standard Path education requirement; ICF awards the MCS. Prices valid for 2027 only and subject to change.
The curriculum
What you'll learn
In 16 modules, you'll build the full craft of mentor coaching. You'll learn how to:
- Observe coaching with evidence, and listen like a mentor coach
- Make fair, formative appraisals, and name your own biases
- Apply the ICF Core Competencies and Minimum Skills Requirements
- Give feedback that grows coaches: strengths before gaps
- Facilitate learning agendas and deliberate practice
- Lead one-to-one and group mentor coaching sessions
- Contract mentor coaching engagements, ethically
- Close engagements with a cumulative Competency Review
Participation first
Every module follows the experiential learning cycle: an active experience, reflection in trios, the theory and ICF standard behind it, then skill practice and one experiment for the week.
Learning trios
You belong to a trio for all 16 weeks, rotating the roles of mentor, mentee and observer. Your trio is the resonant relationship that sustains change.
An observed practicum
From week 8, you mentor a real practice mentee: 5 observed sessions, with written faculty feedback on 3 mentor sessions.
Mentoring on mentoring
5 one-hour sessions with an MCS faculty member, built into the third hour of modules 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16.
Course modules
16 modules, one per week
Part I · Why: the mentor you are becoming
Why mentor? Purpose and the Ideal Self
The mentor who shaped you · Intentional Change Theory and your Mentor Vision
Motivation and mission: the Real Self and the learning agenda
Strengths-first self-assessment · Your mission statement and learning agenda
How people change: Intentional Change as the mentor's map
The five discoveries · Why vision comes before gaps
Part II · What: the mentor coach role and its standards
The mentor coach role: definition, distinctions and ethics
Mentor coaching vs coaching, supervision and training · The ethics of the role
Agreements: contracting the mentor coaching engagement
Contracting the engagement · Roles, records and expectations
The ICF standards: Core Competencies and Minimum Skills Requirements
A working command of the Core Competencies · Minimum Skills Requirements at each level
Part III · How we see: observation and formative appraisal
Observing with evidence: listening like a mentor coach
Evidence-based observation · Listening for competencies in real recordings
Bias and fairness in appraisal
Naming and reducing appraisal bias · Mentoring on mentoring 1
The formative appraisal tools
The Session Observation Form · The Competency Review Form, in practice
Calibration lab: PCC and MCC lenses
Scoring calibration across credential levels · Mentoring on mentoring 2
Part IV · How we help: feedback and development
Feedback that grows coaches
Evidence-based, autonomy-supportive feedback · Strengths before gaps
Facilitating skill development: learning agendas and deliberate practice
Learning agendas and deliberate practice · Mentoring on mentoring 3
The one-to-one mentor coaching session
The structure and flow of a full mentor session · Live practice
Group mentor coaching
Designing and leading group mentor coaching · Mentoring on mentoring 4
Part V · Now what: integration and practice
Closing the engagement: the cumulative Competency Review
The cumulative Competency Review · Closing an engagement well
Your mentor coaching practice: the vision revisited
Capstone portfolio and observed session · Your Mentor Vision, revisited · Mentoring on mentoring 5
Starred modules run 3 hours; the third hour is mentoring on mentoring with MCS faculty. The observed practicum runs weeks 8 to 15. Course outline is subject to change.
Pilot price · February 2027 cohort
$3,900
Plus applicable taxes
Returning students: $3,600 · 2 instalment payments available
October 2027 cohort: $4,800 · $4,500 returning
Book a callWhy mentor coaching, why now
From January 1, 2027, every ICF credential candidate's 10 hours of mentor coaching must come from a mentor who holds the MCS. The 2025 ICF Global Coaching Study counts 122,974 coach practitioners worldwide, up 13% from 2023, and every credential application needs mentor coaching.
The program runs twice per year, in cohorts of 12 to 21. The February 2027 cohort runs at the pilot price; the next cohort begins October 2027.
Mentor coaching can become a new service in your practice. This program teaches the capability; it makes no promise of clients or income.
Frequently asked
Questions, answered.
What is the Mentor Coach Specialization (MCS)?
The MCS is an ICF specialization for coaches who mentor other coaches. From January 1, 2027, every ICF credential candidate's mentor coaching hours must come from a mentor who holds the MCS. This program delivers the 60 hours of mentor coach education required to apply.
Who is this program for?
ICF-credentialed coaches who want to mentor other coaches to credential-level skill. You need an eligible, active ICF credential to enroll.
When does it start and how is it delivered?
The pilot cohort starts February 17, 2027 at 10 AM ET. It runs 16 weeks, live and virtual, one module per week, with a practicum from week 8. The program is offered twice per year.
How much is tuition?
The February 2027 pilot cohort is $3,900 plus applicable taxes ($3,600 for returning Coach Academy students), with 2 instalment payments available. The next cohort (October 2027) is $4,800 ($4,500 returning).
Does this program award the MCS credential?
Coach Academy provides the mentor coach education that meets the ICF MCS Standard Path requirement. ICF awards the MCS. Applicants must hold an eligible active credential, complete the ICF BARS and Marker training for each level sought, and satisfy ICF application review.
Start with a conversation
Request information
Send us a note and an Admissions Coach, a certified coach who has been through the programs, will follow up with the details you need on the MCS pathway, timing, and your fit for the cohort.
Prefer to talk now? Book a call with an Admissions Coach.