Academic Life Coaching

What is coaching?

As previously mentioned, coaching is a voluntary, collaborative, goal-directed, and solution-focused process. Coaching (Neenan & Palmer, 2012):

• concentrates on problem resolution or solutions, and includes the participation of the individual being coached as part of the brainstorming and evaluation processes;

• focuses on the present moment (or the here-and-now), as well as future goals; 

• encourages autonomous changes in behavior (with an experimental approach to change); and 

• centers on relationship building between the coach and coachee.

It is important to remember that students who struggle academically or face additional challenges and pressures due to a learning difference may also be struggling in other areas of life. Many of their issues may be interrelated or stem from pervasive difficulties with executive functions (e.g., time management, organization/problem solving, self-motivation, impulse control, or emotion regulation). Improving one’s skills and quality of life in one domain can positively impact other areas. In fact, research indicates academic performance improves when students have “supportive relationships and opportunities to develop and practice social, emotional, and cognitive skills across many different contexts” (CASEL, n.d.).

Academic life coaching is about helping students improve the quality of their thinking—not just about prescribed academic content, but also about the issues that matter most to them. Coaching occurs in a safe and supportive environment that helps coachees think and act creatively in all domains of life, including education, relationships, and leisure. Adolescent students’ goals in coaching can be general (e.g., enjoy school more, develop friendships, or reduce stress) or specific (e.g., earn better grades, commit to an extracurricular activity, or get more sleep).

In a coaching role, educators can help students clarify their interests, values, and goals; identify action steps; and monitor, evaluate, and change (when necessary) their behavior in order to make progress towards their desired outcomes (Grant, 2012). The scope and specific content of coaching conversations should always be guided by the student’s developmental status or maturity, as well as the specific policies and practices established at your school.

Although academics is often a central theme in life coaching for young people, coaching engagements can focus on a variety of interests, goals, and life skills, including cultivating positive relationships, pursuing hobbies, or learning how to self-advocate (Sleeper-Triplett, 2010). For coaches working in school settings who may also fulfill other roles at their institution (e.g., classroom teacher or counselor), it is important these individuals clearly establish their specific role, responsibilities, and limitations within the context of the coaching relationship and avoid role “drift,” in which they (and their coachees) become unclear about their roles and responsibilities. In the event a coach believes the coaching relationship should be suspended and transitioned to a different kind of relationship (e.g., therapy), the coach should explicitly discuss the need for this transition with the coachee.

The Coaching Process

“…coaching psychology leads with the premise that the client is an equal partner in the process and comes to the table with expertise, knowledge, and abilities to create the change they seek. Coaches work with their clients to create change; there is no hierarchy.” 

(Allen, 2016, p. 16)

Coaching engagements may be spontaneous unstructured conversations or semi-structured guided discovery sessions utilizing a variety of educational tools. Further, coaching engagements can be brief (e.g., 4-6 sessions) or ongoing and iterative (e.g., occurring throughout a school year).

During the initial meeting of a coaching engagement, the educator/coach should provide the student with an overview of the coaching process, roles, responsibilities, benefits, and limitations of coaching. During this initial conversation, students will have the opportunity to ask questions and express any concerns they may have (and have those concerns addressed) before committing to the coaching engagement. This brief session should cover:

• What coaching is (and what it is not);

• What a coach does (and what they do not);

• Confidentiality (and its limitations);

• Frequency of sessions (e.g., weekly);

• Length of coaching engagement (e.g., one month);

• Length of each coaching session (e.g., 30 minutes); and

• Coachee’s responsibilities (e.g., attend and participate in coaching sessions, implement strategies and actions between coaching sessions that are necessary to achieve their goals, and honestly share what is and is not working for them in the coaching relationship).

“The [Personal Coaching Agreement] is a sort of master document—a blueprint or roadmap from which all aspects of coaching work and growth can flow. It is the foundation for all of the work that will be done and includes specific elements to guide the client: realistic goals; small, manageable action steps; a plan for how and when to check in with the coach to report progress and stay committed to change; and rewards that will come with completing the action steps.”

(Sleeper-Triplett, 2010, p. 381)

A coaching agreement emerges through open, honest, and nonjudgmental conversation between the coachee and the coach. The document they create identifies the goal(s) the coachee wishes to focus on and the ways in which the coach will provide support and encouragement as the coachee works toward their goal(s). A coaching agreement covers goals, action steps, accountability, and rewards.

Facilitating Change

According to the Transtheoretical Model of intentional behavioral change, individuals progress through the following five stages of change (Allen, 2016, p. 85): 

• Pre-contemplative (denial of need to change)

• Contemplative (weighing pros and cons of change)

• Preparation (intention to change, making plans, and taking small steps)

• Action (goal-setting and practicing new behaviors) 

• Maintenance (intention to maintain new behaviors going forward)

At various times during a coaching engagement, it is expected coachees will experience uncertainty or ambivalence about their goals and the behavior change needed to achieve those goals. A coach works with a coachee to resolve their ambivalence about changing a behavior or attitude.

Coaching is not about imposing an external force for change, giving expert advice, convincing the coachee of the necessity of change, or leading the coachee along a prescribed path. Rather, coaching seeks to elicit and affirm the coachee’s authentic values and goals, evoke the coachee’s own arguments for change, and, when requested, provide strategies for addressing unhelpful thinking, overcoming frustrations, sustaining engagement, and improving planning, organization, and time management.

The most important features of any coach’s toolkit are the social, emotional, and cultural competencies the coach possesses. These competencies manifest in a variety of ways during coaching, including the coach’s presence and conversational style. As the coaching process unfolds, the coachee will likely report both successes and failures in completing specific action steps and goals. Coaches should reinforce successes with genuine and specific praise, and receive news of failure with empathy, unconditional positive regard, care, and encouragement.

Performance feedback and recommendations for improvement should only be offered with permission from the coachee. During evaluation periods, the coach will also continue using reflective listening and open-ended questions to explore the coachee’s readiness for change, reevaluate stated values and goals (if necessary), and elicit the coachee’s ideas for overcoming obstacles in the future.

“. . . working with coachees to ultimately become their own self-coach.” 

(O’Broin & Palmer, 2012)