Session Information
02 SES 08 A, Learning VI: Coaching
Paper Session
Contribution
The world of work is changing and it is not clear, how different trades will evolve und which competences in the future will be requested. Therefore learners in vocational education and training (VET) need to be trained so that they can acquire new competences if needed and adjust to new requirements at the labor market. Therefore a high learning ability and the ability for self- directed learning is central. Empirical studies indicate that the constructivist basis of teaching and learning and the importance of self-directed learning are widely accepted among teachers (Leuchter 2009). In a new learning culture the roles of teachers and learners change (Mandl et al. 1998). Learners take over responsibility for their learning and the teacher role changes from instructor to accompanying advisor or mentor (Schulz- Zander 2005). One difficulty hereby is that traditional teaching forms are often still more familiar to teachers than providing adaptive learning support (ibid.). The difficulties teachers have with newer forms of teaching, such as supporting group learning in the function of an advisor or coach are often underestimated (Pauli und Reusser 2000). Self-directed learning is considered to be facilitated though digital learning. Teachers cannot and do not have to know everything better than their learners anymore but should view their role as a supporter (Schuck et al. 2017). This leads to the question whether subject related knowledge, subject matter didactics and the traditional role of teachers to pass on cultural knowledge is still relevant (Reusser 2000). If teachers are expected to accompany the individual learning processes of all their learners and in the same time have to provide relevant contemporary knowledge this leads to very high demands on the teaching occupation. Overall the changing role is still mostly a demand and not common practice in VET schools. However, the changing role of teachers starts to change in enterprises among workplace trainers. Especially highly innovative enterprises realize a new learning culture in order to increase their innovation capacity and output.
A possible way to describe the role of teachers in a new learning culture is coaching, respectively the conceptualization of the teacher role as a coach. Coaching is a concept that was not conceptualized in theory and then implemented in practice, but was initially developed in the enterprise context (Geissler 2012). To understand coaching and to see how it can be realized in the context of vocational education, this paper presents a case in which coaching is used by an enterprise in the practical training of VET learners. Our research addresses the following questions: How are teaching and learning processes organized in the enterprise? How is the role of the teacher (workplace trainer) conceptualized? Can coaching, respectively the conceptualization of the role of the teacher as a coach contribute to a clarification of the teacher role in contemporary learning environments? Our findings show that in the enterprise coaching is used as way to provoke high personal engagement of learners in their everyday working and learning. The former teacher role of the workplace trainer has been divided into two roles; pedagogically or psychologically trained coaches support learners to increasingly take over the responsibility for their learning process and subject matter experts support learners in developing skills while working together with them. Due to this support learners can develop the ability to manage their own learning and in the same time they develop subject related competences. In the presentation a display of how coaching is realized in the studied enterprise will be provided and it will be discussed if coaching could contribute to a clarification of the role of teachers in contemporary learning environments.
Method
To understand teaching and learning processes as well as the concept of the teacher role in the enterprise a case study approach was applied. Case studies allow to look in a holistic perspective on a phenomenon (Yin 2014). They are especially useful if the relations between phenomenon and context are not evident and if for the understanding of the case contextual aspects are relevant (Yin & Davis 2007). Within the case study semi- structured Interviews were conducted with 6 coaches, with 4 subject matter experts and with 17 VET learners of different occupations. The learners that participated in the interviews were selected by their coaches with the condition that they represented learners that were confident about their learning as well as learners that struggled with the way workplace training was organized in the enterprise. Learners of the second group for example had to repeat the last year of the training due to not passing the final exam, or could not find projects to work in for a certain amount of time and therefore were to some extent “unemployed” in the enterprise. For the interviews a questionnaire with open questions was prepared that targeted to understand teaching and learning processes as well as the concept of the teacher role in the enterprise. The aim in the interview situations was to provoke narrations on the topic, asking the interviewees about successes and failures, everyday situations and problems and events that were special or meaningful in their perspective. The gathered data was validated and complemented by site visits in the regular working and learning environment of the learners. Also events that were organized for learners were visited as well as special working/ learning spaces provided by the enterprise for the regular workers which the learners used as well, such as co-working spaces. The data was further complemented by interviews with VET managers that select, plan and oversee the coaches and their training and by analysis of documents defining the coaching concept. The audio data was transcribed and coded. In the analysis of the assembled data the method of content analysis was applied (Kuckartz 2016). The material was structured in two dimensions, according to cases while cases represented the interviewees or groups of interviewees, and according to categories, that represented the research topics.
Expected Outcomes
The analysis showed that learners in the enterprise are trusted to organize their own working and learning. If they successfully complete tasks in their own way and receive corresponding feedback this often increases their motivation and many learners started to work with high personal engagement and learned and achieved far beyond what was expected. In a culture of trust it’s vital to “not being afraid to make mistakes but just do it to learn how it’s done” which was a common narrative. The learners are supported by coaches, who are responsible to guide and accompany learners in increasingly taking over the responsibility for their learning. Often they are described by learners as their “anchor”. In many cases the coaches are role models for the learners with regards to their high engagement (each coach accompanies 40 Learners at different locations), their identification with the enterprise and in representing its values such as “being initiative, being communicative, and not being afraid of making mistakes”. They are a role model for learning in which they are highly credible. Secondly learners learn by working together with subject matter experts in changing projects (3-6 month). In every project one expert is responsible for the skills training of the VET learner (to recruit him/her, to ascribe tasks, to help if needed and to give feedback). Learners make diverse positive and negative experiences working with these different experts. In many cases the subject matter experts are role models for the learners as workers in their future working field. The coaching model used by the enterprise can considered to be interesting to conceptualize the teacher role in contemporary learning environments. As the teacher role is divided into coaches and subject matter experts this leads to a clarification and simplification of the role and facilitates effective learning.
References
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