Module 4, Session 3: Coaching and Mentoring

[Rox]

#3236

Thanks for this presentation.
As a supervisor, I identified myself more in the role of being a coach of the disciplinary field. I understand that it is my duty as an academic to meet up with PhD scholars and provide feedback. It is not a favor. I understand that it my duty to faciliate and enable conversations with PhD scholars that make them aware of the tacit rules of the field that are not visible to the experts anymore.
Likely, I may become a mentor for some of the PhD scholars I get to supervise ; and likely, they will also become my mentors if we get to develop a social relationship based on trust and care. As a PhD student, my peers were my best mentors. I learned so much through seeing them and relating to them.
They did not know that they were my mentors, but just the way how they place(d) themselves in the world taught me so much of how I wanted to be and inhabit the academic space.
Famous humble and generous intellectuals that I have met in conference also inspired an idea of role model of how I wanted to be. I have not gotten to develop a mutual relationship of recognition with all of those intellectuals that are humble and generous, but they have shaped so much the path of how I wanted to become.

[Joyce]

#3277

From the presentation, a supervisor should be both a mentor and a coach; yet from my experience and even my own work as a supervisor I am really more of a coach. This is probably because there is a time limit to the engagement and a clear purpose – the degree. So just focus the student to achieve their goal. Further there is a long line of other students also to be supervised.
For me to pick someone as my mentor, I must just aspire to be like them. I suppose that is exactly how the students would equally feel

[Peter]

#3288

This was a short but good ppt and video that was useful in explaining and differentiating between mentoring and coaching. But it is apparent that the role of a supervisor is more of a mixture between the two – and sometimes going beyond to being counselors and therapists depending on the student’s past and present experiences. i.e. supervising is a dynamic undertaking.

[Vera]

#3300

Supervision should be a mix between mentorship and coaching, however, not all supervisors can be mentors. Mentorship goes beyond the supervision process & long lasting relationships are established between the supervisor (mentor) and the student (mentee). Mentorship is based on mutual trust, respect and the ability of the student to learn from the supervisor.Coaching is also key in supervision since there has to be specific goals which ought to be achieved within the set timelines.

[Sine]

#3303

Coaching and mentoring are both roles of a supervisor. Mentoring continues even after a student has attained a degree for life development. As coaching comes with the job, sometimes it might not be your interest but forced to do it. Academics becomes mentors and coaches. They mentor students by introducing students to knowledge by giving them a recipe of a particular discipline. After understanding the discipline, the students are then coached to contribute to knowledge in a particular discipline. I believe that supervision should start with mentoring to understand the student better and their needs then coach them to get things out of them.

[Rendani Mercy Makhwathana]

#3326

My supervisor has been both my mentor and coach during the development of my thesis. At first I did not understand him, because he would ask me a lot of questions with regard to what I wrote and submitted. he would ask me to bring my copy and start asking questions about my writing. as I answered them he would advice me to write that down for further corrections. Now I understand that his focus was on building my confidence as he helped me unleash the potential in me. That helped me to improve in knowledge and understanding. In the process of coaching and mentoring me, my relationship with my supervisor changed, we started working together with understanding to an extent that besides focusing only on my thesis, he would mark a masters dissertation and ask for my opinion a certain area he wanted me to master provided I heard time. At first I was very uncomfortable. On finishing giving my opinion, we would sit and discuss issues I raised on that section. He would agree with some and asked for clarity on some. He would coach me again to make me see things differently. He wanted me to be independent from him, making me believe in myself that I was and I am able as much as he is. Just the knowledge that I am able developed intrinsic motivation in me. That was my mentor and coach developing trust in me. He provided me with a lot of professional support. Since mentoring deals with the identification and nurturing of student’s potential for the journey ahead and beyond. This means that mentoring is long term. I started to be creative and my performance improved. I did not know that my supervisor was caching and mentoring me, now I understand. Thank you for this session.

[Irene]

#3336

My experience is that supervisors play both roles (mentoring and coaching) and the dominant part sometimes depends on the kind of student. However, I prefer being a mentor so that i allow the students some freedom to find their own academic level without me dictating too much the direction their academic lives should take.

[Joseph]

#3343

Mentoring and coaching are well explained. A supervisor has special roles indeed in terms of the two. Most of the time we perform both roles unconsciously. It is important in my view that there should be some training on these roles. Many supervisors are simply trained in the skills of the academic dimension. In some instances circumstances force supervisors to act the position of mentorship.

[Jane]

#3368

in my view supervision should encompass both coaching and mentoring. In order to achieve the end product, the supervisor needs to acquire both techniques, know when to apply what at a given time while upholding a professional relationship. A supervisor should also be keen in helping a student to become independent, resilient and develop a voice within the academic discipline.

[Joseph]

#3377

Both coaching and mentoring are important in postgraduate supervision. In the short term a supervisor finds that the student needs to be coached to successfully chart the terrain of postgraduate studies. In the long term mentoring relationship must be developed for it requires more energy and time. The student looks up to the supervisor as a model in many dimensions of life not just academic.

[Kristen Cheney]

#3382

I think supervision involves primarily mentoring the student, as you are not only guiding them through the process of writing a thesis but are also helping them develop professionally, as a scholar. At certain punctuated moments, however, the role becomes more one of coaching, in which you have to attend to certain performance-related steps in the process, e.g. design seminars, qualifying exams, and of course, submitting the thesis for defence.

[Joram]

#3406

An interesting and informative presentation. I feel a supervisor will find themselves in the other roles too even within their supervision. However the overarching and clear role is that of supervision.

[Alando]

#3445

I think a mix of both coaching and mentoring is necessary in the supervision process. From my experience as a doctoral candidate, I found it helpful that my supervisors could mentor me by sharing their experiences and going out of the topic that I was working on into other social issues that were necessary for the successful completion of my research the confidence in the research that I was undertaking while at the same time ensuring that the actual research was carried out nonetheless.

Given my experience, both as a doctoral student and now as a supervisor, I believe a mix of coaching and mentoring is therefore necessary in order to loosen the tension that might exist between the student and the supervisor. This tension can for instance be caused by the more powers that the supervisor already wields when compared to the student and can make the completion of the doctoral research difficult if not well managed.

[Pauline]

#3452

I think mentoring and coaching overlap. In the earlier stages of the postgraduate student’s journey more emphasis on mentoring is important because this is the stage where the student is initiated into the academic community, and they are trying to find their footing. As the journey progresses coaching may be more useful for developing independence on the part of the student. At this time they have access to necessary resources need to take decisions on what to do, which tools to use and how. This is best achieved through coaching though mentoring continues through how as a supervisor we conduct our research and interact with the student and other members of the academic community.

[Scholastica]

#3460

Coaching and Mentoring are vital in postgraduate student development and progression. Coaching works where the student are new in the field or have no wider knowledge therefore the integral part is to shepherd into knowledge and practice of the discipline of their research.
Mentoring comes about through encouragement and steering the student into achieving their degrees.

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