Coaching is a systematic way to support individuals in setting and achieving goals; empowering them to take greater responsibility, communicate more effectively and increase levels of satisfaction.
Coaching, being a coach, being coached, all form parts of the learning and teaching experience for our students and staff. Our students can expect to experience group and individual coaching, which academic co-coaching will be experienced by our staff as part of their practice enhancement. Daniel Goleman helps us to understand seven ingredients which are critical to being a successful learner. The development of these in ourselves and our students, can be supported through coaching, and through the design of learning activities and assessment.
Goleman, D. (1996) Emotional intelligence: why it can matter than IQ. London: Bloomsbury, p. 194
| Confidence | Curiosity | Intentionality | Self-control | Relatedness | Capacity to communicate | Cooperativeness |
| A sense of mastery and control | A sense that finding things out is positive and enjoyable | The wish and capacity to have an impact, related to a sense of competence | A sense of inner control | An ability to engage with others, to be understood by others and to understand others | A sense of trust and in others creates the wish and ability to exchange ideas, feelings and concepts with others | The ability to balance ones own needs with those of others in a group or learning community. |
What is Coaching? How is it different from mentoring?
In the opening chapter of their book, Kay Guccione and Steve Hutchinson provide the following definitions of coaching and mentoring
" A designed conversation to aid the clarification and achievement of an individual's goal(s) and to help them capture the learning obtained in the process of doing so"
They go on to define coaching as a "designed, non-directive learning conversation" and mentoring as "a coaching conversation (larger part) plus some experience-based contextualisation, advice or guidance (smaller part) Guccione, K. and Hutchinson, St. (2021) Coaching and mentoring for academic development. Bingley: Emerald, p. 7.
This video explains further:
Shakiba, E. (2016) Coaching skills demonstration. [Online video]. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to73DYQkApQ