Mentor and coach: Disciplinary, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches

Abstract

This comparative case study features six types of mentoring and coaching: mentors of young people; mentors of leaders; mentors of newly qualified teachers; executive coaches; coaching psychologists; sports coaches. Three practitioners from each of these disciplines were interviewed to identify if there were shared and distinctive approaches between mentoring and coaching. Participants shared how their approaches might be transferable to other types of mentoring and coaching. Findings suggest that practitioners should be supported to specialise in a specific mentoring or coaching discipline; adopt a mentor-coach interdisciplinary approach; or to develop multidisciplinary approaches. Further research is needed which takes into consideration additional types of mentoring and coaching.

Keywords

• mentoring
• coaching
• disciplinary approaches
• interdisciplinary approaches
• multidisciplinary approaches