Highgrove is almost unique in the educational world in that we place coaching at the heart of our educational offering. Why is this, and what is coaching? Our Head of Coaching and Safeguarding, David Hodgkinson, explains the importance of coaching within an educational context.
Let us start with the question of what coaching is. It has a strong pedigree in the business world where executives and others engage a coach to help them clarify their thinking and make decisions for change – decisions which are rooted in a clear understanding of what they wish to achieve, and how they may wish to go about this. The coach supports their client throughout the journey from reflection to decision making to execution, providing a positive space within which the client may make decisions and then be held accountable for enacting those decisions. This focusing of an individual’s powers and talents means that they, like a laser-beam, can become more effective, and, ultimately, more fulfilled as their efficiency and ability to deliver increases.
For a teenager the same principles apply, but in a slightly different way. All too often we see young people who do not focus and who are lacking in a sense of direction for themselves. Educators and parents can see it as a case of dragging their child to success. Although this method can work in limited ways, it does not address the development of the inner person. Coaching, on the other hand, enables a young person to assess their own situation and to work to find what motivates them, whilst also assessing their own skills and developmental needs. The same principles apply as with an executive, but the needs are different. A young person may need more support with organising themselves or keeping to deadlines, for example. This is largely because their brain has not fully developed, and they also need to learn how to be truly independent.
It is this independence which is so important in the context of an online school. Teachers can provide all the materials and the lessons, but they cannot stand over a student when they are potentially on the other side of the globe. Ultimately, that student needs to develop the self-discipline and motivation to succeed. Developing such qualities is a challenge, and in doing so a young person needs the support and guidance of an adult mentor or coach to enable them to reflect, review and redouble their efforts.
We can all be held back by limiting ideas – thoughts about what we are good or bad at, ideas about how people perceive us, or limitations inherited from our past. Such ideas can be particularly overpowering for young people navigating the challenges of their teenage years, and the relationships with their peers and teachers. A coach works to challenge and question these limiting ideas, so that a young person can move more freely, and both enjoy what they are doing and excel. A student whom I coached a little while ago held the notion that being able to do things quickly was a sign of intelligence. This may be reasonable when things are simple, but when I challenged his thinking, and asked him if he would feel comfortable when a heart surgeon expressed this view, he was able to see its limitations, and to reflect on the need to work through more complex problems with a greater depth of thought.
Such coaching conversations can be transformative in the way a young person works, and how we as professionals and parents work with them. Highgrove offers this opportunity to every student enrolled with us full time or taking our enrichment programme as part of their part-time studies, and holds regular coaching conversations with students. These conversations work hand in hand with our Skills and Mindset courses which develop greater independent, resilience and self-mastery.
Highgrove Education is offering a unique blend of online learning, with live lessons and state of the art independent learning. Coaching underpins everything which we offer, and helps young people to grow into exceptional, independent individuals who thrive in their studies and stand out for their tenacity and perseverance as they move into adult life.
