The Route to Success – Personal-Academic Coaching Program.

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The Route to Success – Personal-Academic Coaching Program.

Margalit Ben-Yehda

Abstract

Statistical data shows that more than 30% of engineering students drop out in their first year which is not congruent with their academic ability. A unique Personal-Academic Coaching Program for promoting students’ learning and self-management skills, self-efficacy and academic achievements for decreasing learning failures and dropping out was developed.

The coaches are college especially trained lecturers.

This article discusses the theories underpinning the Personal-Academic Coaching Model (Kedem, 2006) based on Positive Psychology (Seligman, 2007), Humanistic Psychology (Rogers, 1951) and Self-Efficacy Theory (Bandura, 1997).

The research examines the influence of personal academic coaching on self-efficacy, learning strategies and students’ achievements.

Keywords

Personal-Academic Coaching Program, Positive Psychology, Self-Efficacy

Annotation

A personal-academic coaching program was started to assist Engineering students improve their self-efficacy, enhance their confidence, and develop the capacity to problem-solve in professional and academic settings. In particular, the target audience for the coaching program was students who are unable to successfully complete their first-year of engineering courses. Using a program developed by Coaches College, lecturers were trained as professional-academic coaches for the students. According to the author, “The coaching program focuses on self-management, learning management, time and tasks management, coping with stressful situations and overload, coping with exams, and academic learning.” The overall idea is that the coaching program can assist struggling students to recognize their capacity to succeed personally and professionally.

The coaching program is based on a humanistic psychology philosophy in which humans are believed to be “good” and primarily concerned with achieving self-fulfillment. Ben-Yehda argues, “Many studies over the past decade have indicated that the coaching process is a model for effective learning by being goal oriented, controlled and reflective. Hence according to researchers, it is important to include the coaching rationale in an education system as a model for effective learning (Griffiths, 2005).”

While the article does not specifically discuss academic success coaching in regards to competency-based education, it does offer an interesting account of the theoretical framework that might inform some coaching programs and practices.

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