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The purpose of this paper is to examine where and how coaching and mentoring disciplines overlap or differ in approach. Coaching and mentoring have emerged as important interventions as the role of helping relationships have gained prominence in human resource development. However, there appear to be contexts where one or other is preeminent, without consistent explanation of their suitability. Such inconsistency arguably creates confusion and doubt about these interventions and their efficacy notably amongst those who commission such interventions and their potential beneficiaries. This study focuses on this inconsistency of coaching or mentoring by exploring practitioners’ approaches within six disciplines: executive coaches, coaching psychologists, sports coaches, mentors of leaders, mentors of newly qualified teachers and mentors of young people, with the aim of assisting those seeking support with development.

This exploratory study was undertaken using a qualitative methodology, where in-depth interviews were completed with experienced practitioners to elucidate their approaches and practice.

The findings show that approaches may be discipline-specific, where practitioners specialise in a particular type of coaching or mentoring requiring distinctive knowledge and/or skills. However, the sharing of good practice across disciplines and the value of understanding the common dimensions which emerged is also evident, providing clients and those who commission coaching and mentoring with reassurances regarding the nature of these helping relationships.

As the research focused only on the practitioners’ experiences of their work in these disciplines, it is vital that the mentees’ and coachees’ experiences are captured in future research. There is also value in further exploration of the model developed.

By deploying the model concerned with the future development of these interventions suggests practitioners can expand their capacity and scope by adopting interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches.

By directly exploring the shared and distinctive approaches of coaching and mentoring practitioners in six contexts, this study provides opportunities to understand where practitioners can benefit from imparting best practice across these interventions and highlighting specific aspects for their context.

The aim of this study is to analyse the experiences of student teachers and mentors regarding in‐service teacher‐training or the “Learning in the Workplace Trajectory” (LIW) in Flemish secondary schools. How is this trajectory perceived by mentors and student teachers, i.e. do their individual expectations and capacities match with the formal guidelines implemented by the teacher‐training institutes (and how)?

This study investigates the LIW trajectory on a pragmatic level, using qualitative research methods such as semi‐structured interviews. The focus of this study is twofold: coaching during the LIW trajectory and evaluation during and at the end of the LIW trajectory.

The majority of the respondents (mentors and student teachers) indicated that adequate communication and partnership between school and teacher‐training institute (on both organizational and individual level) is essential for a successful trajectory. The challenges which both organizations have to face in order to establish an effective partnership and to effectively guide future student teachers towards their future profession, were made transparent: invest in intensive coaching and install structural involvement of both school and institute during the trajectory.

This study was limited to a qualitative methodology and therefore has very few universal implications. Furthermore, this study originated from a practical point‐of‐view, with no interest in finding new theoretical insights on workplace learning.

This study shows that without sufficient financial and structural support from the government, schools and teacher‐training institutes are left facing the challenges (finding ways to invest in and increase coaching the LIW student teachers and structural involvement in the organization of the LIW trajectory of schools) on their own.

This study aimed to highlight the perspective of student teachers and mentors – in other words to see this “Learning in the Workplace Trajectory” through their experience, as they experience(d) it in order to get a look inside the daily practice of both LIW students and mentors during coaching and evaluation.

The paper provides analysis of the use of instructional coaching (IC) as a prevalent trend supporting new teachers in the English system and aims to inform ongoing policy development and implementation. The qualitative study examines mentors' conceptualisations and enactment of the role of instructional coach and the readiness of mentors to assume mentors' key stakeholder roles in the professional education of early career teachers (ECTs).

Semi-structured interviews with 37 mentors explored mentors' understandings and experiences of becoming instructional coaches as part of a pilot support initiative to support ECTs in England. Two rounds of interviews were conducted to generate data related to the first six months of mentoring on the programmes. Thematic analysis identified seven semantic themes which describe manifest content found within the data and identify mentors' perceptions of their role and practice as instructional coaches. Three latent themes were developed from mentors' accounts which indicate challenges in becoming an instructional coach in this context.

Concern to apply IC “correctly” according to the programme models was a strong feature amongst both novice and experienced mentors. A key finding is the lack of explicit knowledge of professional learning pedagogies amongst mentors and insecure understanding of how new teachers learn. Assuming the role of instructional coach presented both benefits of having a “model” to follow and disadvantages in fostering limited and over-prescribed concepts and practices related to the learning of new teachers.

The study investigated mentors during the first six months of a pilot programme and the paper reports on analysis of one type of data. The research results may lack generalisability, and a longitudinal study is necessary to further explore the validity of the findings.

Sustained, high-quality professional learning for mentors is crucial to mentors' role as instructional coaches to enable mentors to develop deep, critical understanding of how IC might support new teachers and how to exercise professional judgement in working with “models”. Judicious use of time and resource is needed to enable mentors to fulfil the potential of national mentoring programmes.

The study is timely in its examination of mentors that assume the role of instructional coach as one response to national policy development that makes support for ECTs mandatory. Such strategies have wide international relevance where the retention of new teachers is a policy priority.

This study was conducted in the United States of America to identify what practices virtual mentor-coaches perceived to be effective in virtual mentoring and coaching (VMC) within virtual professional learning communities (VPLCs). The authors also sought to determine the ways in which virtual mentor-coaches provided VMC for school leaders within VPLCs.

The authors used a phenomenological approach in our research, describing the lived experiences of practicing virtual mentor-coaches as they engaged in VMC. Data analysis included video analysis and systematic coding of interview data.

An in-depth analysis of interview and video data showed that virtual mentor-coaches support school leaders in developing and transforming school leaders' leadership for building teachers' instructional capacity. The authors identified a VMC process model within VPLCs, including four steps as follows: (1) presentation, (2) collaboration, (3) reflection and (4) action plan.

VMC for school leaders participating in VPLCs is regarded as a transformative model which provides encouragement, reflection and support for instructional leadership actions.

Key steps and components of an effective VMC highlighted in the current research offer practical guidance for future virtual mentor-coaches in conducting and implementing VMC within VPLCs.

The purpose of this paper is to explore why mentoring is preferred over coaching when supporting pre-service teachers, compared with other stages in a teacher’s career where coaching is more readily available.

The paper first draws upon pre-existing literature which addresses the ways in which mentoring is used for pre-service teachers; followed by a discussion of the place and use of coaching within education. It then focuses on data generated from interviews with senior teachers responsible for the induction of pre-service teachers within three UK-based secondary schools and compares this to findings about mentor and coach approaches used in other sectors or contexts.

Findings point towards an imbalance in the use of mentoring and coaching within education, with a particular underuse of coaching for pre-service teachers. Some mentoring (and indeed coaching) interventions are founded on a deficit model; therefore mentors of pre-service teachers could be helped and supported to make greater use of a mentor-coach integrated asset-based approach, which encourages the use of reflection and self-directed learning.

Schools using internal mentors for pre-service teachers, or internal coaches for post-qualified teachers, could benefit from understanding what a mentor-coach integrated approach might look like, founded on an asset-based model.

The literature is limited with regards to the use of coaching for pre-service teachers. This paper examines the use of mentoring and coaching within schools in a more balanced way; questioning the underlying beliefs about the purpose of mentoring and coaching and whether or not these are based on deficit or asset-based models.

Team performance in sport is not limited to the players, but extends to the coaching staff and their relationships. This study aims to identify mentoring functions reported by NCAA Division I assistant women's soccer coaches within a head coach‐assistant coach dyad and examine gender impact on these functions.

The Mentor Role Instrument questionnaire, completed by 39.7 percent of applicable assistant coaches, determined the mentor functions present. Means for the 11 mentor functions were ranked and compared via ANOVA.

Post hoc testing showed the parent mentor function at the lowest level with the social function second lowest. The mentor functions of acceptance, friendship, sponsor, and challenging assignments ranked as the statistically highest group of factors. Assistant coach gender significantly impacted the mentor function of social, with male assistant coaches higher than females. Gender of the head coach significantly impacted the mentor function of parent with assistant coaches having male head coaches reporting greater parent functions. Gender also impacted the social mentor function in the head coach/ assistant coach dyad with male‐male dyads significantly greater than the male‐female dyads.

The current research is limited by its narrow scope. Future research should consider mentor effects on job satisfaction and occupational turnover intent, expansion to other levels of women's soccer, and expansion into men's sports for further analysis of mentoring in coaching.

As the first study to document mentor functions in coaching these results provide baseline data to guide future research and support the development of mentoring programs in coaching.

An important function of mentoring is to assist protégés in becoming autonomous professionals who reflect and solve problems as experts. The emerging literature on information processing, reflective practice, and expertise indicates: experts solve problems differently than novices; and learners who participate in a structured instructional programme can learn these higher‐order conceptual skills. Based on these findings, examines the principles and practices of cognitive coaching as a viable means for mentors to use in developing the reflective and problem‐solving expertise of their protégés. Provides practical suggestions for how mentor/coaches can utilize reflective questioning strategies, clarify and probe responses, and take a non‐judgemental stance. Concludes with an overview of a training model which would prepare and support mentors in their attempt to assist protégés in becoming self‐directed, expert problem solvers.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate two coaching and mentoring programmes focused on the ever-increasingly important aim of enhancing the chances of professional level employment for undergraduate students, at two UK universities. In addition, to offer recommendations to enhance coaching and mentoring success within higher education (HE).

Two similar programmes are compared; the first study is a coaching programme delivered in two phases involving over 1,500 students within the business school. The second study is a mentoring programme involving over 250 students over a ten-year period within the business school at a different institution.

The two programmes have been compared against the key success criteria from the literature, endorsed by coaching and mentoring experts. The results highlight the importance of integrating with other initiatives, senior management commitment, budget, an application process, clear matching process, trained coaches and mentors, induction for both parties, supportive material, ongoing supervision and robust evaluation and record keeping.

The research focuses on two similar institutions, with comparable student demographics. It would have been useful to dig deeper into the effect of the diverse characteristics of coach/mentor and coachee/mentee on the effectiveness of their relationships. In addition, to test the assumptions and recommendations beyond these two institutions, and to validate the reach and application of these best practice recommendations further afield.

The results identify a number of best practice recommendations to guide HE institutions when offering coaching and mentoring interventions to support career progression of their students.

There are limited comparison studies between universities with undergraduate career-related coaching and mentoring programmes and limited research offering best practice recommendations for coaching and mentoring programmes in HE. The top ten factors offered here to take away will add value to those thinking of running similar programmes within HE.

This chapter focuses on two major concepts in entrepreneurship training, namely coaching and mentoring. A study of these concepts reveals at least two schools of thought, that coaching and mentoring are two parallel and distinct activities that can be used to support each other, and that coaching and mentoring are not separate activities — coaching is considered part of the mentoring activity or mentoring part of the coaching activity. Data from 36 university-based training programmes and 450 coaching and mentoring cases at 7 Swedish universities were analysed. We used a checklist to gather information on 21 items linked to these 4 distinctive groups: first structural issues (mission, form and task); second, process issues (i.e. connection to programme content, meeting environment, problem solving, assessing the opportunity or idea, operative role, confidentiality and networking); third relationship (i.e. extent, meeting, initiative, homework, documentation and follow-up) and fourth character of the coach and mentor (background and experience, engagement, integrity, social skills and role or ethics).

Coaching and mentoring differed markedly, for example in terms of mission, problem solving and use of generalist versus specialist competence. Similarities occurred in the areas of opportunity or idea assessment, and meeting environment, operative role and confidentiality agreements. The authors are convinced that the coach and the mentor have different roles in helping the young individual to become a better entrepreneur. Coaching and mentoring were found to be parallel activities that complement each other.