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In Their Own Words
issue 86 sep 2023
Life Coaching: Helping JC Students Navigate Life
Eunoia Junior College’s unique Life Coach programme gives each student the opportunity to be matched with a “Life Coach” – a role held by dedicated members of the teaching staff. The Life Coach provides each student with individualized in-person support and regular guidance as he/she navigates junior college life. Two teachers from Eunoia Junior College share their insights and discuss their experiences, challenges and perspectives as Life Coaches.
What are the key benefits that the Life Coach programme brings to students at Eunoia Junior College (EJC)? How does it contribute to holistic student development?
The JC experience can be quite intense for students over the span of two years. Students face numerous demands during this time, including heightened academic rigor, active involvement in CCAs and leadership roles, as well as participation in various programmes within and outside of the college. It is easy for them to burrow deep into the different aspects of school life and lose sight of the broader perspective.
Yet, at 17 and 18 years old, they are at the cusp of young adulthood. Many of them will start to question why they are doing what they are doing, and they will soon find themselves needing to contemplate their answer to this question in order to make significant decisions about the next steps of their lives. With the Life Coaching programme in EJC, we seek to engineer opportunities for our students to pause, take a step back and reflect on who they are, what they stand for, who they want to be, and how they can work towards that. This endeavour may not come naturally to all students.
To support them, every student has the opportunity to be paired with a trusted adult from the junior college community who will walk this journey with them as their Coach. Establishing a human connection in this process of understanding and self-discovery makes the journey less intimidating and lonely. It also motivates students to embark on this journey with greater enthusiasm and take more responsibility for it. Students connect with their Coaches through conversations, during which, the Coaches will provide a listening ear, offer different perspectives, ask difficult questions, challenge assumptions, and work together with the students to co-create strategies to move forward.
Through this process, students are encouraged to explore various facets of themselves as individuals, beyond the context of being students solely focused on excelling the ‘A’ Levels examinations. While the coaching experience occurs during the students’ time at EJC, they can also acquire skills of self-awareness and self-directedness, which are essential for personal growth beyond their school years.
How do you tailor your guidance as a Life Coach to meet the unique needs and goals of each student?
Engaging in coaching conversations isn’t always straightforward. They demand readiness, understanding and a willingness to connect from student and the Coach. It may not come naturally, even if we are working with a student whom we have regular contact, as the nature of these conversations can be (and to some extent, should be) quite distinct from the day-to-day school experiences.
As a Coach, one of my top priorities, especially during the first conversation, is to evaluate the readiness of the student I am working with. I achieve this by actively listening to what the student says, and how he/she expresses himself/herself during our conversation. Similar to our approach as teachers in the classroom, we need to listen to understand rather than listening solely to respond.
This is followed by asking probing questions to delve deeper into the responses and uncover the underlying values and beliefs. The depth of this probing depends on the readiness and openness of the student. At the same time, coaching is not just about one single conversation, but is about a longer-term process.
Typically, to assist them in progressing after the coaching conversation, I assign some simple tasks. These tasks may involve deeper reflection on discussed issue, researching an unfamiliar topic that surfaced during the conversation, or to work on chipping away at an unproductive habit we identified. At times, students approach me with topics that I am not familiar with. At times like this, I will need to remind myself and the student that the role of the Coach is different from that of a teacher.
A teacher is traditionally seen as the knowledge base, and the one possessing all the answers, which is the antithesis of a Coach. A Coach works in a more level partnership with the student to co-create change.
Consequently, I shift the locus of control to the students, enabling them to steer the process towards gaining deeper understanding of the topic, clarifying its personal significance, and focus on asking the “why” questions to probe and deepen the exploration.
Highlight the key differences between a Life Coach and a traditional teacher. How does this distinction contribute to holistic student development at Eunoia JC?
Arguably, a traditional form teacher often fulfills several roles that align with those of a Life Coach. However, formalizing the match of a Life Coach to a student does have additional advantages for the students.
First, it allows for the students to access a diversity of perspectives from different adults/educators. We know that form teachers typically spend CCE lessons with students, most likely on top of their academic lessons. So by default most students already have significant facetime with their form teachers. Therefore, the Life Coaching program at EJC allows students to express their preference for another educator who may not be their form teacher and/or do spend timetabled/academic lesson time with them (e.g., their CCA teacher). In enabling students to make such choices known, and with the mutual consent of Life Coaches to accept the match, students can engage a range of adults should they wish to broaden their perspectives.
Secondly, formalizing the pairing of a Life Coach for each student also enables teachers to provide specific recommendations at suitable moments, encouraging students to consult their respective Life Coaches on relevant issues.
Thirdly, when students opt to make known their preference for a Life Coach, the Life Coach upon notification and consent, can also choose to plan and/or monitor the students’ growth at timely junctures across the college journey. Having an archive of evidence that the students have consolidated for themselves to reflect upon just a few months later can be quite a powerful tool that grows self-awareness and perhaps appreciation/regret for their growth or lack thereof.
Of course, it’s worth emphasizing that such an approach may not suit all student or teacher profiles! Adopting the above approach may not work well particularly when some students are clearly not willing or ready. For these students, an ad-hoc arrangement may also work too!
On one hand, the flexible structure of EJC’s Life Coaching programme still offers an additional alternative touchpoint for students to seek support from educators. On the other hand, having evolved our approach across the years since implementation, we also accept that Differentiated Instruction (approaches) might be required, and regular/extended sessions might be more meaningful for some students, but not all.
What unique benefits does in-person Life Coaching offer students that digital or peer support might not fulfill?
While peers may offer some understanding, it is important to note that they can also have their blind spots or biases. It is also worth considering that peers may also be dealing with similar stresses and challenges, which can make it difficult for them to offer solutions. Occasionally, when students are grappling with finding solutions to perceived problems, their susceptibility to stress and anxiety, and may lead to them to overthink or react impulsively. In such cases, they may benefit from an adult perspective that encourages them to stay grounded. Considering the demanding two-year college curriculum, certain challenges are akin to rites of passage that may require a certain degree of maturity and experience to approach problem-solving with greater composure.
Furthermore, it is recognized that students today spend a significant amount of time in school, and there’s uncertainty about whether they have an intimate and secure relationship with their families. Some students may possess (dis)interests/curiosities that may be different from their family members, and/or students may not feel as comfortable sharing these matters with their family. In a way, the structure of Life Coaching ensures that students have a formal option to consult with an adult about matters close to their heart. While not completely foolproof, based on the enhanced possibilities for students to engage different adult educators for perspective and support, the safety net is cast wider in our social compact.
As for the emergence and accessibility of digital tools such as websites with abundant of self-help guides and tips, or ChatGPT, they undeniably make information more available. However, the sheer volume of information available online can sometimes make it challenging for students to find content that precisely caters to their specific needs. There can be instances where the students themselves may not possess the right questions to start with and ask, given how many may simply be overwhelmed by various triggers or sources of stress.
Moreover, the questions that students pose to their peers and search engines like Google often carry underlying assumptions. Online search algorithms rely on or reinforce these assumptions, sometimes resulting in confirmation bias. In contrast, Life Coaching provides opportunities for a dialogue as well as asking questions and exploring the contexts that have shaped or influenced these assumptions. Sometimes answers are to be found from within the students through guided introspection, as opposed to seeking more information about the world around them.
What strategies have you found most effective in establishing strong coach-coachee relationships with students as a life coach?
Cultivating the coach-coachee relationship demands time and effort to develop trust. It often depends on the students to determine when and how much they are ready to share or respond to coaching prompts. The usual routine is for coaches to get students to introduce themselves based on their secondary school or family backgrounds, and perhaps indicate what they might like to achieve or aspire towards in the short, medium, and long term, so coaches can triangulate what might be possible areas of strengths, weaknesses, and curiosities to explore during the coaching journey.
Nevertheless, I’ve come across some students who may be hesitant to share certain details. This is a common occurrence since students might feel self-conscious and may still be in the process of getting to know me. In an effort to create a safe and welcoming environment during the initial sessions, I often utilize slides to share my own educational and professional backgrounds, including past and current CCAs and leisure pursuits. My personal approach is to build that safe space for sharing as early as possible to the extent that I may also share some of my educational, professional, or personal challenges. The hope is to illustrate to students that teachers are not perfect, we all experience some form of challenge and difficulty at some point in the past, present, and likely future. What matters most is the mindset we adopt each step of the way in pursuit of growth and fulfilment. In essence, this provides a loose reference point for role-modelling. What students decide to mimic or avoid is completely up to them to decide as they chart their own journey of self-discovery.
Strategically checking-in with these students at timely junctures with meaningful prompters really matters a lot. It determines the readiness of students to share when they are likely to be most in need of support. Being human and expressing shared vulnerabilities might help build that safe space particularly for students with low self-esteem who may be hesitant with confessing their struggles. It assures the students that they are not being judged, but rather heard and supported.
Lastly, given the limited availability of the students and Coaches especially during peak seasons, coaching conversations may not be conducted as often and for as long a time as they would like them to be. Mutually arranging for open and ad-hoc communication (e.g., email, Google Chat), be it synchronously or asynchronously, may also be helpful to keep coaching conversations ongoing for sharing of growth experiences or resources.
