Beyond Certification: Helping Future ATs Build a Mindset for Lifelong Learning
For athletic training educators, preparing students for the profession extends beyond helping them reach the milestone of BOC certification. It also means helping future Athletic Trainers (ATs) understand the professional responsibility that comes with maintaining that certification throughout their careers.
For ATs who become certified in 2026 and beyond, Continuing Professional Certification (CPC) Renewal – powered by Pathfinder, will be their path for renewal. As this next generation enters the profession, educators have an important opportunity to shape how they understand and approach continuing certification from the beginning.
Making Continuing Certification Part of the Professional Mindset
Students learn what it means to be an AT in large part through the expectations, behaviors and professional habits modeled throughout their education. That makes educators important role models for the mindset behind CPC Renewal: staying curious, continually questioning what you know, engaging with evolving evidence, recognizing opportunities for growth, setting goals, reflecting on practice, and continually seeking relevant opportunities to learn and grow.
These concepts are not new to athletic training education. Students already experience reflection, goal setting, assessment and intentional learning throughout their professional preparation. CPC carries those same habits forward into their careers. Helping students make that connection can shift continuing education from something they think about only when requirements are due to an ongoing part of their professional development.
Connect What Students Do Today with What They Will Do Tomorrow
Educators can reinforce this connection through everyday educational experiences. When students reflect on a clinical experience, consider what they need to learn next or where they want to strengthen their knowledge; educators can point out that these are the same habits they will use as practicing ATs.
CPC Renewal builds on that process through Pathfinder, encouraging ATs to identify knowledge gaps, establish goals, plan learning and reflect on their professional growth. The goal isn’t simply to make sure students know how CPC works. It’s to help them understand why this approach to continued learning matters.
Help Set the Tone
For today’s students, CPC Renewal will not represent a change from a previous renewal model. It will simply be part of what maintaining BOC certification means. That creates an opportunity for educators to introduce continuing certification as a natural extension of professional practice from the outset.
How CPC is discussed matters. When educators connect it to professional growth, continued competence and better-informed learning choices, students can begin their careers with a clearer understanding that certification is not a one-time achievement. It is an ongoing commitment.
Educators play an important role in establishing that expectation. By modeling lifelong learning and connecting today’s educational experiences with tomorrow’s professional responsibilities, educators can help prepare future ATs not only to earn their certification, but to make the most of what comes next.
