Introduction to Academic and Student Coaching
Academic and Student Coaching is a type of individualized support that favors questioning in order to allow the student to identify and resolve his difficulties and to reach the objectives he has set for himself by promoting autonomy.
Coaching will focus on the student's specific problems, as a whole, and the coach will adjust his or her support so that the student can find solutions and overcome his or her current difficulties. Depending on the issues, the coach may be more like a trainer than a coach.
Why do I specify the posture of the coach?
Simply because when we talk about coaching, it refers to a very specific method. This method is based on questioning in order to bring the client to question himself and to find ways to solve his own problems and this without influence. In short, the coach must ask neutral questions that do not influence and must not give advice!
The coach intervenes at a crucial period in the student's studies, generally in high school, when many problems arise that can lead to discouragement, which is of course also influenced by the student's personal and emotional life.
Certain choices must then be made according to the situation and require various and often complementary actions according to the individuals to advance, improve or surpass themselves. This sentence may seem vague, but it means that very often the problems are multiple and interrelated, such as :
- self-confidence problems that play a role in career choices
- self-confidence problems and difficulties with public speaking
- motivation problems and lack of organization or work methods
Coaching is the engine of this change, it serves to find solutions to make it work. The coach has the duty to adapt and to propose a support specifically designed for his client and his situation.
Problems can also arise later, without the source being really obvious or identified.
Being oriented without building a well thought-out professional project can lead to various problems (concentration, organization, motivation, absenteeism) that seem to be dissociated, but which often have a single cause: how can one be motivated, work and advance with desire in one's studies without having a clearly defined objective?
You have to ask yourself the right questions at the right time. Before the baccalaureate, students tend to consider that they have time to worry about it, then time passes and they end up making a choice by default or taking a broad option that will eventually allow them to orient themselves more precisely later on. This lack of in-depth reflection on their future life and professional project often leads them to question their choice, after one or two years of study and sometimes even at a Phd level, to take only the example of a university studies, making them lose their time and their motivation as they go.
Coaching is the only relevant method for defining one's professional orientation, when it is implemented properly and when it is truly a personalized accompaniment based on questioning. The label "coaching" is used indiscriminately, and thus this is not always the case. Often it's a matter of tests or assessments.
The figures are indisputable, and come from the Ministry of Education, concerning current guidance services such as tests and assessments: 50% failure or drop-out in 1st year at a University.
I recommend that you read my articles entitled: "How to choose a school and professional student coach" and "How to choose a guidance service" where I explain in more detail how to analyze a profile and a guidance service and what you need to be careful about.
