RAPPORT
Issue 5 (August 2020)
to mentoring approaches. Finally, in
respect of enhancing academic
achievement, the Tutor suggested that the
student was:
…feeling supported to reach his
goals (Yorke and Thomas, 2003) …
was very clear that he wanted to
increase his attainment academically
because he felt if he was going to
continue that he needed to be aiming
to achieve 2:1 degree
classification…. I facilitated this by
helping to decipher feedback on
academic work he had received, as
well as being his final year project
supervisor. He was successful in
completing his final year and gained
a very pleasing 2:1 degree
classification.
Without explicitly mentioning the terms
coaching or mentoring, this illustration
incorporates some aspects of the
performance aspects of coaching related
to academic achievement and the
importance of relationship building
considered to be at the heart of mentoring
(and for many in both approaches). Such
holistic and ongoing support was reflected
upon within the final meeting, the Tutor
reporting that:
…[X] was extremely grateful for
the support I had provided over
the course of his studies and said
that the direction I had provided
at key times, as well as being a
listening ear had meant that he
always felt there was someone he
could turn to. He repeatedly said
that he would not have made it to
graduation if the … system had
not been in place. It gave him a
contact that he knew would be
there to support and listen to him
when he was struggling with
confidence or was unclear where
to go for specific information.
This was, she felt ‘in direct
contradiction to the 'deficit
approach' or 'problem driven'
model that it could be suggested
is utilised by the wider University
as evidence by the utilisation of
… a University wide, stand alone
example of a professional model
of academic skills support for
students where students with a
'problem' with academic skills are
directed.
A further illustration similarly draws upon
goal-setting as an approach with links to
coaching (performance) and explicit
concerns for the socio-emotional context
experienced by the Tutee (Portfolio 16
CS3). The Tutor sets the context:
a level 5 student, currently
completing an Erasmus study
placement …. e-mailed … tutors …
raising some worries about her
studies and learning experience. She
also expressed some distress about
not being fully adapted to her new
life in Spain and sought some
tutoring, as she wanted to consider
her future options if she decided to
withdraw her studies or change
degree without finishing her study
placement.
In a subsequent scheduled 1:1 meeting:
her worries seemed to emerge from
a lack of academic tenacity since she
mentioned a few non-cognitive
factors which were deeply
influencing her academic and
personal experience. For example,
she was worried about not belonging
to university as she was finding the
course too challenging.
Consequently, she was starting to
hesitate whether she was capable of
doing a good job (performance goal),
rather than believing that she could
overcome this challenge as she had
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