Study Abstract
The Personal-Academic Coaching Program was developed at ORT Braude College of Engineering in Israel to address a first-year student dropout rate of over 30%. The program’s goal is to promote student learning and prevent attrition. While recent studies show that personal coaching significantly benefits the coached students, this study specifically examines its impact on the lecturer-coaches themselves.
Using a qualitative methodology, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 lecturer-coaches and analyzed using thematic content analysis. The findings reveal a unique perception among the lecturer-coaches, showing that the coaching process contributes greatly to them personally and professionally beyond its benefits to the students. Based on these conclusions, the study suggests implementing personal academic coaching training for teachers during their academic preparation at teacher training institutions.
Research Question
- What is the contribution of Personal Academic Coaching to lecturers-coaches?
Connection to the Coaching World
The study directly applies the principles of personal coaching to the higher education ecosystem. The program is structured around a “Six-Stage Model” aimed at imparting learning strategies and enhancing self-efficacy. Academic lecturers were formally trained as personal-academic coaches by coaching experts. The research explores core coaching dimensions, including the coach-coachee relationship , adherence to a structured coaching model , active listening, empathy , and the direct impact of the process on the coach’s mental resilience and personal well-being.
Importance of the Study & Its Innovations
- Filling a Research Gap: Academic coaching programs for students are relatively new, and there is a profound lack of prior research examining how conducting these sessions impacts the lecturers serving as coaches.
- Novel Contribution to Knowledge: Most existing literature regarding the benefits of coaching experienced by the coaches themselves focuses on sports coaching. This study offers a unique contribution by focusing on higher education.
- Pedagogical Transformation: The study demonstrates that coaching tools empower educators to shift their teaching paradigms away from traditional, rigid lectures toward a more active, empathetic, and student-centered approach.
Research Methodology & Data
- Methodology: Qualitative research utilizing in-depth, semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions to capture the lecturers’ genuine perceptions. Each interview lasted between 45 minutes and one hour.
- Data (Research Population): 10 lecturer-coaches teaching within an engineering faculty. The sample included “expert coaches” (5+ years of coaching experience) and “novice coaches” (1 year of experience, having coached 2–3 students).
- Analysis Method: Content analysis used to identify, categorize, and isolate key emerging themes from the interview transcripts.
Key Findings
The data analysis yielded four core themes: Coach’s responsibility, Emotional aspects, Personal and professional awareness & development, and Expectations for continuation.
- Personal & Professional Development:
- Expert Coaches: Reported profound personal breakthroughs, including heightened self-awareness, a shift in their problem-solving mindset, and positive ripple effects in their personal and family lives.
- Novice Coaches: Expressed the impact in a more measured, hesitant manner, noting that while they feel they are changing, they do not yet feel fully satisfied or like they have entirely mastered the role.
- Teaching Improvement:
- Most lecturers noted a massive positive shift in their classroom presence. The coaching tools made them better listeners, more empathetic, and more attuned to identifying student struggles without judgment.
- The training pushed lecturers out of their comfort zones, leading them to abandon purely frontal lecturing in favor of active learning strategies that cultivate student independence.
Ben, M., Shacham, Y. M., & Stan, C. (2018). The Way To Empowering Lecturers – Personal Academic Coaching As Contribution To Lecturer-Coaches. In V. Chis, & I. Albulescu (Eds.), Education, Reflection, Development – ERD 2017, vol 41. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 460-466). Future Academy.