Coaching - Why have we jumped on the coaching band wagon ?

Why oh why - are we being led into this supposed new training/tutoring/coaching/pupil led, style of continuing to do our job?

Have we been railroaded into believing this is "The only way forward" - "the must have tools" - "The only way to stay on register".

I have seen posts suggesting that we would be among the few who fall behind if we don't get involved and use coaching methods.

So my question is WHY do we need coaching ?

The Boss

where did all these people come from that suddenly can provide courses on coaching ? who coached them ?

MMmm Good point, they must have coached themselves?

There are very few, no there is not one, train the trainer, trainer course for our industry available anywhere in the UK.

Needs to be from outside the industry and then applied to our work. Mine is from NLP.

The Boss

Our courses are provided by Ian Edwards who was on the 3 year HERMES project. This project looked at learner centred approaches to driver education of which coaching is one.

What other learner centred approaches are there?

Very good question - hope we get a response

Using a self reflective diary, peer to peer discussions, etc. could be considered under this heading. Really anything approach that places the learner in the role of both the learner and teacher could be considered as learner centred.

IMO

I thought reflective writing in a diary was to record any learning that has already taken place and how it may be used, as well as assisting the assimilation of new knowledge. Therefore post learning.

Peer to peer discussions have an upper limit of knowledge expansion, without the catalyst of a coach/tutor. Therefore only possible with an agenda and at least one client having prior knowledge or skills.

Can't see either being pupil centred learning in a driving environment. However both would provide an opportunity for pupils to recognise the sessions value towards post test continual personal risk assessments.

The Boss

Of course different approaches can be used in different ways depending on the desired learning outcomes. In the context of this discussion a reflective diary should be more than a simple log of what has been learnt, it should be designed to encourage reflection on how this learning was used and how it could be transferred to other situations, in this way it becomes learner centred.

Peer to peer can be used in a number of ways, for example by giving the group a problem to solve and asking them to present the solution back. This is highly effective, frequently we accept messages more readily from our peers. Generally if the problem is well set the answers easily come forward.

The are many definitions of learner centred but one that is frequently used is that learner centred approaches should look to place the learner, as much as possible, in the role of both the learner and teacher. Of course this approach cannot be used for all learning outcomes and for this reason, and others, I am very much an advocate of a mixed approaches to driver education but learner centred / coaching approaches have a massive role to play.

You may be aware we have just published a book on the subject that shows how learner centred and coaching approaches can be applied in driver education.

Thanks Ian nice response.

I personally believe I understand enough to make use of coaching/CCL, however it does seem a massive ask for ADIs to reach a level that will make a difference to the roads we drive on.

The Boss