Teaching and Coaching
By Albert B. Kelly
On the face of it, I do not know if there is much of a difference between teaching and coaching, but in my mind there may be an important distinction. Both are valuable but in today’s world I think we need more coaching.
I say that because for me, teaching maybe slightly narrower in scope and is more about sharing information. Teaching can be step a removed, narrowed down to the subject at hand. Whereas coaching, while it includes teaching, tends to be more intimate and all-encompassing and more about preparing for larger life goal. Some might say it is a distinction without a difference since it is likely that good coaches teach and good teachers coach.
I thought about all this recently while talking with an acquaintance about local youth who are the very first in their families to go to college. This acquaintance told me about the difficulties some students have adjusting to college life not just because of the pace or scope of college academics, but fitting in with the culture of campus life and the sense of isolation from family who are unable to relate to the challenges a first generation college student encounters.
These students don’t just need teachers or tutors, they need coaches who can relate to the struggles and challenges and who can encourage and motivate these student not just to succeed academically, but succeed in the broader context of what it means to be in college and the implications beyond college, coaching that helps someone navigate this strange new territory and not lose sight of larger life goals.
While first generation college students are one example, this idea of coaching is applicable to so many areas of modern life. The concept of a coach, someone to help navigate, is not new by any stretch of the imagination. Today we have life coaches and business coaches and birthing coaches and dying coaches to name but a few. Thinking about the complexity of today, we could benefit from coaches or navigators in many areas of modern life.
Another group that might benefit from coaching are those entering the workforce for the first time. Speak to employers in many industries and they will share their frustration at the fact that so many younger workers enter the workplace unable to function to expected standards whether that involves communicating with customers and the general public, dependability and showing up for scheduled shifts on time, not being distracted by their mobile devices, handling conflicts with co-workers, or functioning within a chain of command. They have the ability, they just need some coaching.
A critical area that could benefit from having coaches or navigators as opposed to teachers involves debt and personal finances. Too many young people start out in adult life with little to no understanding of credit cards, interest rates, savings accounts, checking accounts, household budgets and more broadly how companies and banks deploy strategies to separate a person from his or her money. As a result, many make uninformed financial decisions with life-long consequences.
While it is likely an area that even angels fear to tread, good coaching would have a huge impact in the area of relationships and I’m thinking mostly about romantic relationships. Many young people and a few not-so-young people, don’t understand what makes for healthy boundaries in a relationship, either how to set them or how to respect them.
Parents and grandparents are really the first best option to help young people navigate the challenges that life presents. But it’s not always possible for them to fulfill that role. Some are simply absent and for others they face unbelievable pressures that were unknown a couple of generations ago. That’s why it takes a village. Many parents and grandparents are simply spread too thin just trying to survive.
Outside the home, schools have taken on the role of providing stability, often serving as the social safety net for students and for the poorest among them, possibly providing them with only chance they might have to grab onto a couple of rungs on whatever passes for the ladder of success. If the profession of teaching has become somewhat unrecognizable, that might be part of the reason. It’s also partly why the true measure of today’s best teachers shouldn’t be confined to lesson plans and test scores, but in their coaching of students through the messy stuff of life.