Aims:

This exploratory project focused on the mentor/coach approach to professional partnership in relation to postgraduate students and aimed to:

• investigate Field Advisors’ and Early Intervention students’ perceptions about their role and relationship during Practicum
• document the attributes that contribute to effective coaching relationships
• use this data to develop a coaching framework to trial in Specialist Teaching endorsements programmes and that can be transferred to similar programmes such as medicine, health sciences and psychology.

Methodology:

An exploratory case study approach was taken, which included:

• using interviews, field notes and portfolios to capture the relationship between students and Field Advisors
• an initiation phase when data was being collected to establish what would be included in the coaching framework
• an implementation phase once the coaching framework was developed, tested and evidence of its benefits for learners demonstrated
• a further implementation phase where refinement, testing and generalisation in other programmes was carried out.