Coaching and Mentoring in HE: Its place and purpose...or the story so far!

this presentaion explores the place and purpose of the coaching and mentoring within UK Higher Educatio

Navigating the tensions of undergraduate life: An existential phenomenological analysis of personal growth and the role of coaching at a UK university

This thesis is about how 14 undergraduates, aged 18-25, at a London university, who had one-to-one coaching with professional coaches over one or two years, perceived their personal growth. Existential phenomenology was used to frame and elucidate the studies within the thesis. Participants who had coaching for one year were interviewed four times while those who had coaching for two years were interviewed five times. Data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), which yielded a fine-grained and multi-layered hermeneutic picture of participants’ experiences. Through the studies, I moved from an expansive analysis of how students made sense of university life and their personal quandaries to a more focused examination of the coaching experience itself. I discuss these studies theoretically, using existential phenomenological concepts. Personal growth has been conceptualised in many ways, including “toward fuller and fuller being” or “self-actualization” (Maslow, 1962/2011, p. 147) and the unfurling of an inner core towards fulfilling one’s innate potential (Waterman, 1984). In student development literature, growth has been conceptualised as vectors (Chickering, 1969) or stages (Baxter Magdola, 1999; Perry, 1970) that are passed through sequentially. However, I argue that these conceptualisations offer a partial perspective on how life is experienced by these students. I draw on a contemporary existential phenomenological approach (van Deurzen & Adams, 2016) and cast growth as becoming a better liver of life whilst navigating life’s challenges. I then reinvigorate the overlooked element of Perry’s (1970) framework; that is, the life tensions students must resolve. Based on my empirical work, I develop eight specific existential tensions situated in the university context and offer these as a flexible framework for students, their tutors and coaches to use when considering personal growth steeped in the nitty-gritty, day-to-day lived experience of students. Several practical implications and policy recommendations are discussed

One-to-one coaching as a catalyst for personal development: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of coaching undergraduates at a UK university

Objectives: This paper examines the experience of nine undergraduates who had six coaching sessions over an academic year. It is part of a wider study which explores how young people experience and understand personal growth in the context of university life. Design: A qualitative, longitudinal design was employed and semi-structured interviews were used. The transcribed interviews were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), an experiential approach which focuses on how individuals make sense of a particular experience in a specific context. Methods: A volunteer sample of nine students, across various Arts and Social Science subjects, was recruited in a Russell Group university and each student received six one-to-one professional coaching sessions in person and/or by Skype. Findings: The students felt that the coaching sessions sped up the growth that would have happened eventually and thus they could put into practice what they had learned much earlier than they would have otherwise been able. Coaching benefited the students in four broad ways: it gave them an increased sense of control over their work and other areas, it helped them achieve greater balance and focus, it increased their confidence and enabled them to take new perspectives on various issues. Conclusions: Coaching helped the undergraduates address common concerns such as time management, stress, social relationships and confidence. Universities could enhance the student experience if they helped students address these concerns, perhaps by training personal tutors to take a coaching approach or by giving students access to professional coaches as a widening or pre-emptive component of their psychological services provision

The Eight Tensions Framework: an existential-phenomenological analysis of the tensions of undergraduate life

An existential phenomenological analysis of eight existential tensions situated in the university context, developed from empirical work, is presented as the ‘Eight Tensions Framework’. Originally formulated for students and their tutors, therapists and coaches to use when considering personal growth at university, it can also be adapted for use with a wider client base

The Eight Tensions Framework: a road map for coaches working with undergraduates

Following an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of 14 students who received one-to-one coaching over one or two years, we formulated a list of eight tensions which the undergraduates experienced at university. These have been expounded in the Eight Tensions Framework, which is a roadmap for coaches and their student clients, for whom coaching at university may be unchartered terrain. The use of tensions highlights how it is not unusual for life to be fraught with tensions. The position taken on them will vary according to which areas of life they are applied, when they are applied over the undergraduates’ degree and how the individual changes. Examples from the data are given to show how these tensions manifested for the students in our sample. Detailed strategies, techniques and examples of how the tensions might be applied in coaching sessions are given, including using them in scaling and ‘wheel of life’ exercises. The transferability of the model to other student populations is discussed. Finally, we highlight links between the Eight Tensions Framework and existential psychology