The OX14 Learning Partnership Academic Coaching Programme, now in its fourth year, brings students together to learn how to coach using the coaching conversation. During the programme, 6th Form students from across our six schools attended several online training sessions which covered leadership, coaching, safeguarding and listening skills. Once training was complete they were paired with a younger coachee with whom they worked for four sessions. Coaching sessions looked at topics such as revision, meeting deadlines, engagement in lessons and students were supported to reach their goals in a supportive space. With a focus on supporting their coachee to discover the answers for themselves, coaches help develop confidence and strategies for academic success. The final celebration session saw coaches and coachees write pledges and commitments following on from the work done in previous sessions and was an important opportunity to feedback and evaluate the programme. Students commented on how they felt they could now be more effective with their revision, they would like to engage in lessons more and they were more confident that incremental changes could lead to them reaching their goals. Along with the yummy cookies each week, students enjoyed sharing experiences without fear of judgment and found the sessions rewarding as they saw progress each week. Survey results found coaches had a 30% increase in their ability to ask meaningful questions and their knowledge of the coaching conversation increased by 55%. 85% of coachees would recommend the programme to a friend.
Hear from some of the coaches
- “Throughout the Academic Coaching programme, I had the opportunity to engage in one-on-one discussions with a Year 10 student, where we discussed any academic challenges my coaching partner was facing. We worked together to identify concerns and establish effective goals. This experience helped me realise the importance of active listening and patience, as I carefully considered my partner’s thoughts and developed my questioning skills to gain a deeper understanding. Being a part of this initiative allowed me to connect with individuals from diverse schools and backgrounds, which improved my conversational abilities and enhanced my ability to listen effectively.”
- “After I got paired up with my coachee, both of us found at the end of the programme that the conversations we had were incredibly eye-opening and beneficial to us both, as by explaining how I managed to move up through secondary school, I was able to offer advice to my coachee that would drastically change the way he approached his subjects, whilst also reflecting myself on aspects of my approach to school that I had never considered before. At the end of it all, we worked out ways that my coachee could improve his time-management skills, helping him to improve his attitude towards school and life in general. I developed crucial listening and conversational skills, while also developing a bond between myself and my coachee.”
- “The academic coaching program gave me the opportunity to understand and help younger people with their academic studies. Throughout the sessions I sat down with my coachee and discussed what their goal was and the steps they could take to achieve it. After every week we came back and talked about whether they had achieved the goal. Through taking part in the programme I learnt valuable lessons in communication and knowing how to help people find goals and achieve them.”
