RAPPORT
Issue 5 (August 2020)
They differentiate this from mentoring,
suggesting that coaching is likely to be
focussed upon a specific problem or skill
need whilst mentoring relates to overall
development over a longer time frame.
They also suggest that, while a coach
needs proficiency in coaching methods
and approaches, a mentor is usually
someone from ‘the same professional or
social group who has already travelled the
journey’ (ibid.: 11).
While such definitions overlap with those
cited for mentoring by CIMA (2002) above,
a non-directive approach for coaching may
appear at variance with the task
orientation and performance driven
emphasis they suggest, and also – more
generally – by a need in specific settings
for coaching to require a disciplinefocussed
discussion or for technical skills
to be understood and demonstrated, and
which therefore may require more than
expertise in coaching alone. They further
foreground a degree of expertise by
experience in mentoring, which may not fit
entirely within a non-directive approach
suggested by Andreanoff (2016: 6) who,
while recognising ‘much conflict’ around
the terms, asserts that both approaches
share an essentially non-directive
approach, ‘allowing individuals to reach
their chosen goals at their own pace and in
a way that suits them’.
From a second perspective, Lochtie et al.
(2018) consider both mentoring and
coaching, though not directly in relation to
one another. Here mentoring is hardly
mentioned directly, rather the distinction
made is between tutoring and coaching –
which are clearly not seen as
interchangeable terms - with key
characteristics suggested by others as
associated with mentoring being
subsumed under the tutoring heading.
Thus:
‘To avoid confusing personal tutoring
and coaching, we need to view them
as related to each other but not the
same. A coach is not a personal
tutor…. Personal Tutoring is
relationship-based while coaching is
a development activity that can be
used as part of that relationship to
develop specific personal or
professional competencies’ (Lochtie
et al. 2018: 16). 7
Extending this position, Chapter 6 of this
publication is devoted to ‘solution-focused
coaching’ as a ‘higher level support skill’
within Personal Tutoring, thereby locating
it as one potential approach within the
personal tutor’s repertoire. Such solutionfocussed
coaching is commended on the
basis that it can encourage students to
‘aim higher, achieve outcomes faster,
explore barriers to learning more positively
and, more importantly, help them to find
their own solutions’ (ibid: 136). This
definition appears to overlap with that
7
Interestingly, the Academic Coaching Advisory
Community within NACADA (the academic
advising community led from the USA) suggests
a rather different emphasis, that ‘Academic
coaching is an interactive process that focuses
on the personal relationship created
between the student and the coach (my
emphasis). It is important for the coach to
encourage the student to become more selfaware
of their strengths, values, interests,
purpose, and passion - and develop those
attributes.’ At https://tinyurl.com/yy772hmp
(accessed 18.08.19).
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