Coaching Students in Higher Education: A Solution-Focused Approach to Retention, Performance and Wellbeing

This practical guide for educators in higher education encourages readers to ask effective coaching questions and apply relevant coaching techniques to empower and engage students to grow and perform at their best.

Filled with authentic examples and handy tips, the book takes readers from the ’how to’ of coaching, through the practicalities, challenges and honing of existing skills and new capabilities. The authors recognise that in educators’ daily encounters and interactions with students, there are many timely coachable moments for authentic learning. These opportunities can enable students to learn beyond what is squarely in their curriculum and develop their own pathways to become work-ready graduates. Through coaching, educators help students discover more about themselves while guiding them to innovate and generate solutions to perceived and real-world problems. This guide offers in depth discussions along with tools and tips to provide invaluable guidance for educators to get acquainted with the key skills needed to coach students for success in various academic and professional contexts. The content covers multiple varied scenarios, from classrooms and assignments, to internships and group work, and highlights various coaching opportunities with practical strategies.

This is a resourceful text for educators, teachers and professionals working in higher education and learning institutions. It provides training material for institutions that want to conduct faculty development programmes to prepare educators for effective coaching conversations in their universities.

May Sok Mui Lim an Associate Professor and Assistant Provost (Applied Learning) at the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT). May is on a mission to promote coaching and transform the learning experience in higher education, and focuses on competency-based education, transition, and improving learning. Recognised for her contributions, she received the National Day Honours: Public Administration Medal (Bronze) in 2022 and the SIT Teaching Excellence Award in 2016, 2019, and 2020. May is also an experienced occupational therapist by profession, she has been working with children with developmental delay and disorders in Singapore and Australia. A certified Solution-Focused Coach, she is dedicated to establishing a coaching culture for educators, aiming to develop students beyond the confines of the classroom.

Nadya Shaznay Patel is an Assistant Professor in the Business, Communication and Design cluster at Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and has over twenty years of experience as an educator, a researcher and trainer. With a passion for critical design futures thinking for interdisciplinary learning, she regularly facilitates workshops for educators and students. She recently published a journal article on Modelling Intellectual Empathy and Communicating Care. Committed to bridging the research-practice gap, she engages industry partners in applied research projects that leverage her expertise in Critical Design Futures (CDF)TM and interests in GenAI. Over the years, she has also worked with partners to offer industry-relevant workshops on empathetic leadership communication, personal branding, and corporate coaching and mentoring.

Ramesh Shahdadpuri is an executive coach and educational development specialist with Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT). He leads coaching training and programmes for faculty development at the university for advancement of their professional capabilities as academics and in becoming effective educational leaders. Ramesh is credentialed International Coaching Federation (ICF) coach and a Professional Certified Corporate Coach from Singapore Management University. He has served on the Board and Committees of ICF Singapore Chapter, and is an active member in various coaching communities of practice. His coaching practice and research interests include academic, leadership, positive psychology, solution-focused, supervision, team and youth coaching.