Tina salter dcam student

1. A comparison of mentor and coach approaches across disciplines Coaching and Mentoring Research Conference at Oxford Brookes University: January 2014 t.salter@ymca.ac.uk Tina salterdcam student

2. Diversification of the field has contributed to definitional confusion: • Personally • Professional bodies and training providers varying in focus • Literature definitions inconclusive and often limited to the author’s experience • Clarification of mentoring and coaching needed: • Instil greater confidence in the profession as it becomes more established • Appreciate the complexities, specific client needs and practitioner approaches within and across disciplines The problem

3. Mentoring and coaching membership organisations

4. A comparative case study using a social constructivist approach Six mentoring and coaching disciplines were selected in order to explore how practitioner approaches might be similar or different Research approach

5. Rationale for Six disciplines • Criteria: • Established disciplines where existing research can be found • Disciplines where practitioners can specialise or work full-time • Disciplines which offer elements for comparison

6. Semi-structured interviews • Three participants representative of each discipline (18 in total) • Thematic analysis was used to analyse interview transcripts • Each discipline was analysed separately before comparisons were made between all mentors and all coaches; and then comparisons were made across all disciplines methodology

8. With child protection and safeguarding there are limits to what can be kept back (mentor of young people) • Sponsorship mentoring which is very cleverly about the mentor being somebody very senior in the profession doing things on behalf of the mentee… somebody who is very protective (mentor of leaders) • It will be somebody in their faculty because they can discuss very specific lesson planning or very specific syllabus type stuff (mentor of newly qualified teachers) Examples of discipline-specific mentoring knowledge

10. When I am working with my clients today who are often running a section, or sitting on a board, I have credibility immediately because I understand and I have been there (executive coach) • I am equipped therefore to go into domains that other coaches might not be because I have that psychology and psychotherapy training. But only if the individual wants to do that. It is very client-led (coaching psychologist) • You have to understand the role of the player in that position. And for me, to look at the technical, tactical, psychological, biomechanical and social side of the development of the individual and within a team (sports coach). Examples of discipline-specific coaching knowledge

11. Inter-disciplinary shared philosophies

12. Inter-disciplinary shared approaches

13. A greater acknowledgement of where and how mentor and coach approaches adapt according to the discipline they are situated within • Coaching young people, mentoring athletes and coaching NQTs need greater theoretical attention Development of theory

14. The need for practitioners, purchasers and referrers to understand how mentoring and coaching disciplines are shaped; and where alternative approaches might better fit the need of the client • Offer mentors and coaches the opportunity to receive training so that any specialist knowledge required of a new discipline can be learned • For practitioners to grow and become more equipped and supported to mentor and coach competently in range of settings; or be clear about the reasons why they have chosen to specialise Development of practice

15. Due to the limitations of this study, further research is needed which appreciates alternative angles and experiences: • Additional perspectives from other disciplines • The mentee-coachee perspective • Views and experiences from other stakeholders The need for further research

16. Thank you for listening