Personal coaching: Reflection on a model for effective learning

Abstract

When I first embarked on my research into coaching as a model for effective learning back in 2005, the presence of coaching in educational contexts was minimal. At the time, my paper proposed personal coaching to be a model for active, collaborative, authentic and engaging learning that courageously challenged and moved beyond more conventional transmission models of learning. I had seen how willingly my coaching clients were engaged in learning and I could not ignore the contrast with the lack of engagement and resistance among my classroom students. I knew that learning was inherent within the coaching process and I wanted to understand how; so that the process may be applied more widely within educational contexts.