Evidence
based child coaching allows the practitioner to provide clients
(parents or caregiver) more
effective and accurate assessment, more informed program planning
and selection of the appropriate, up-to-date coaching
methodology.
Child coaches
tend to operate
in a very high degree of isolation. Research has shown that coaches
who work primarily alone and do not acquire latest evidence
based coaching knowledge -tend to: invent things as they go along and rely
on their very basic level training, books and online information (which frequently results in greater
myth and confusion than improved clarity of knowledge).
Belief-based
Child Coaching
Belief based child coaching is a common and traditional form of coaching
mainly provided by parents, caregivers, child care professionals and
educators.
Its guidelines for practices are usually a mix of personal
experiences, some basic education about training and professional
development, selected incomplete knowledge of coaching practices,
and a self-belief in the
practitioner’s coaching
approach. Any changes in coaching practices usually only occur
through a process of self-selection.
The accumulated
knowledge of belief-based child coaching is subjective, biased,
unstructured, and mostly lacking in accountability. Belief-based
child coaching also includes pseudo-scientific coaching. Pseudo-scientists
(versus qualified behavioral scientists) attempt to give the impression of scientific knowledge but invariably
their knowledge is incomplete resulting in false/erroneous
postulations.
Today,
belief-based child coaching is still the foundation of most
institutional (schools, child centers etc )
coaching programs. Most of these institutions resist any contrary evidence that
might challenge their beliefs and internal human development /
training practices / standards. Many
practitioners either are unaware of their level of practice or simply
do not want to hear that they require further instructed, more
advanced learning.
Evidence-based
Child Coaching versus Belief-based (B-B) Novice Child Coaching
-
Evidence-based child coaching utilizes behavior coaching
models that make predictions that can be verified.
- Novice reasoning is
characterised by B-B coaches because they have lower levels
of validated procedural knowledge and relevant experience. This lack of procedural knowledge has an impact on how novices
coach children. Novices who do not have any history of
best
practice situational contexts find it difficult to judge the
relevance and importance of certain aspects of a task. The notion of
pattern
recognition or forward reasoning is another key component which
separates novice coaches from qualified, certified, behavior-focused practitioners who
are able to use reliable and proven behavioral coaching
models.
- Belief-based child coaching attempts to explain why something
happened with little chance of ever testing the associations depicted
in the explanation. Vagueness or an inability to predict can be attractive to
some child coaches because they cannot be held accountable for their
results. These "coaches" propagate the Principle of Uncertainty beyond reasonable
limits so that any error can be disguised as uncontrolled "nature"
rather than deliberate disorder. Evidence therefore, can only place
unnecessary constraints and account
ability
upon their part-time of full-time coaching.
Child
coaching
practices are typically disordered and simplistic in institutions,
government agencies and
countries/regions where coaching is being introduced. The
coaching program sponsors and casual or full-time coaching practitioners who lead these coaching
initiatives need to undertake appropriate, modern behavior-focused
coach training and re-skilling in
order to introduce more evidence based practices and better
results.
The Behavioral Coaching Institute's
advanced, fast-tracked
Certified
Master Child Coach Course and Diploma Course
(available
in Self-Study format) provides select course
participants industry-proven, easy-to-use evidence based coaching models, skills and
techniques in a simple and straightforward way to facilitate their
role in optimizing child
learning, performance and development.
Many vital evidence
based coaching practice protocols, change models, techniques and tools a professional
child coach requires are only
available to coaches in advance levels courses designed by recognized
behavioral scientists. -
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