Coaching is a methodology that allows the maximum personal and professional development of individuals and influences their transformation, causing changes in perspective, increasing motivation, commitment and responsibility, and of course, learning.

Therefore, coaching promotes cognitive, emotional and behavioral changes that expand a person’s capacity for action .

Educational coaching is not directive

Educational coaching is not based on directive instruction by the coach, but helps to create the right conditions for learning and growth

Perhaps one of the most notable changes that classroom coaching can bring is that this methodology is not about teaching in a directive way, but rather creating the conditions for learning and growth. It is an experiential methodology, in which both teachers and students reach solutions through their own self-reflection. Coaching leaves behind the barriers that limiting beliefs can impose and the individuals who try it connect with the here and now in a way that makes them more decisive and creative.

Coaching focuses on a dialogue (called the Socratic method) between actors that allows the development of specific skills. For teachers, it allows them to know their own mistakes so that they can modify them, and also helps to create more experiential and enriching educational environments and strategies in the classroom for students, who also benefit from these very productive sessions.

Teachers can have sessions with coaching professionals or learn different coaching strategies to better educate their students. But the relationship between the coach and the teacher is not an expert one, i.e. the coach is not above the coachee. Rather, the relationship is on the same level, and the coach facilitates the strategies for self-learning. The coach is a companion in this educational process.

How students benefit

One of the keys to educational coaching is that it does not aim to teach, but to seek performance improvement on an individual basis. It is common to observe in some classrooms that all students are taught exactly the same thing regardless of their skills and strengths, greatly limiting their potential and creativity.

Educational coaching affects the individuality of people, the potential of each of your students. In many cases, what you want to teach should not limit the potential that students have for learning. That is why educational coaching offers a different way of learning.

5 keys that teachers or educators should know

To increase the potential of the students, teachers or educators can learn the five keys of educational coaching, because in this way students can benefit from this type of methodology. Coaching can be a great complement for teachers when teaching classes. But what are the principles of educational coaching?

  1. Pupils’ potential: one of the keys to educational coaching is not to instruct, but to find and develop the true potential of each of your pupils.
  2. Self-awareness: You can only bring out the best in students when you are aware of your own limiting beliefs and adopt a non-directive and open-minded attitude to change. In this learning relationship there must be an environment that allows for the development of self-awareness, reflection, observation and interpretation of what is being experienced. This applies to both you and your students
  3. Empowerment: To empower students and make them more independent, it is necessary to educate them not on the basis of knowledge, but on the basis of the responsibility that this knowledge implies.
  4. Feedback: Constant feedback is essential in order to maximize learning and benefit from the sessions.
  5. Development of competencies: In order to apply coaching in the classroom, it is necessary to develop different competencies: active listening, emotional intelligence, patience, attention, compassion, etc.

You can learn more about coaching skills at this link

False Myths of Coaching

Unfortunately, this discipline, which can be really useful, is tainted with a certain amount of controversy. For example, its popularity has caused much professional intrusion. In other words, many people claim to be “coaches” when they are not. Some of them confuse this methodology with “charlatanism” or motivational talks, and others, with a simple course, think they are already coaching professionals.

But coaching is a methodology that, when used well, brings many benefits to coaches (the clients of the coaches), as they acquire greater self-knowledge, emotional intelligence, empowerment, they better structure their objectives and connect with their emotions more efficiently .

The benefits of coaching

No matter how much some people try to describe coaching as a passing fad, coaches who have experienced the coaching process know how beneficial this methodology is for their well-being and learning. This is why coaching is applied to aspects of personal, sporting, working and educational life .

Whatever the type of coaching, this practice is intimately related to change and learning, because it allows opening the mind, experiencing and recognizing emotions, analyzing the present state to set goals and creating an action plan to achieve the objectives in a specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and in a given time . The coach guides the coachee throughout the coaching process and helps him/her to be able to develop his/her full potential .

In summary, coaching provides the following benefits:

  • Allows the definition of objectives
  • Maximizes creativity
  • Enables greater mental flexibility and adaptability to change
  • Empowers people
  • Improves interpersonal relationships
  • Helps manage time and therefore reduces stress
  • It helps us to be motivated
  • Increases well-being
  • Helps maximize personal development to go further
  • Improves self-knowledge, self-reflection and emotional intelligence

If you want to know more about the benefits that coaching can bring you, visit our article: ” The 10 benefits of coaching (keys to your personal development)”

Bibliographic references:

  • Burman, E. (1998). The deconstruction of evolutionary psychology. Madrid: Aprendizaje Visor.
  • Cristal, D. (1993). Language pathology. Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra.
  • García Galera, Mª del C. (2000). Television, violence and childhood. The impact of the media. Barcelona: Gedisa.
  • Kimmel, D.C. and Weiner, I.B. (1998). Adolescence: a developmental transition. Barcelona: Ariel.