Entry requirementsApplicants should normally have a first degree or equivalent professional experience, plus an appropriate English language qualification.
Students who have already gained a coaching or mentoring qualification, for example from the Oxford School of Coaching and Mentoring, may be given exemption from the practice element of the Coaching and Mentoring Practice module. This award must be at an appropriate level.
Participants are invariably self-funded, although some participants may seek support from their employers. Arrangements can be made for payment by instalments. Career development loans are also available from major banks. Arrangements can be made for payment by instalments.
Academic titleMA / PGDip / PGCert Coaching and Mentoring Practice
Course description MA / PGDip / PGCert
The purpose of both coaching and mentoring is to help and support people to manage their own learning in order to maximise individual potential, skills, performance and personal development. The MA in Coaching and Mentoring Practice provides a unique environment in which you can expand your knowledge and understanding of coaching and mentoring.
The programme provides its graduates with the theoretical understanding and experiential knowledge and skill necessary to equip them to undertake coaching and/or mentoring in a range of contexts and also be able to train others in the practical skills and understanding needed for successful one-to-one support. It is likely, therefore, that students will join the programme from a number of professional spheres: training, education (including learning mentors), staff development, human resource development, management and commerce, health care, ministry, social services, voluntary sector, prison and probation services or youth work.
Course content
This part-time programme comprises six modules of study amounting to 180 M-level credits. Its modular structure will allow you to design a programme of work according to your particular area of interest.
Coaching and Mentoring Practice Study begins with this 40-credit module, in which participants have their own professional coach/mentor for a period of eight months. The module provides vital experience, both of being mentored/coached and also acting as mentor/coach, and is an opportunity to apply the coaching and mentoring methodologies of personal profiling and personal development planning, which are then translated into rigorous intellectual study through reflective practice and critical analysis. You may choose whether to focus specifically on mentoring, performance coaching or developmental coaching. The practice module draws on the expertise of a number of internationally recognised coaching and mentoring experts. The module also includes a 180 degree feedback system and systematic reflection on practice which will enable you to gain insight into areas for personal and organisational growth.
Alongside the practice module students undertake two core 20-credit modules:
Transformational Learning and Adult Development This module encourages critical thinking and expands awareness of a number of issues in adult learning and development that impact directly on coaching and mentoring.
Psychotherapeutic Dimensions of Coaching and Mentoring This module focuses on the implications for coaching and mentoring of the three main areas of psychotherapy and counselling: psychodynamic, humanistic and cognitive behavioural. The philosophy and theory of the different schools that have evolved within these orientations will be explored, along with the different techniques and models, and how these may be used to inform coaching and mentoring practice. Boundaries and ethical issues will be considered and respected.
Participants also choose two 20-credit option modules from the following:
* Psychological Perspectives on the Self
* Online Coaching and Mentoring (taught online)
* Coaching and Mentoring in Organisations
* Community Contexts and Trends (work-based, self-study module)
* Independent Study (may be work-based or theoretical)
Master's-level study culminates in a 20-credit Research Design module and a 60-credit Dissertation module. The dissertation involves a piece of investigative research and comprises approximately one third of the work for the MA degree. The dissertation focuses on a research problem of particular interest to the participant and is often work-based.
Postgraduate Certificate and Diploma
Participants completing the Coaching and Mentoring Practice module and the Transformational Learning and Adult Development module may terminate their study at that point (60 credits) and be awarded a postgraduate certificate. It is also possible to complete a further three 20-credit modules and be awarded a postgraduate diploma (120 credits).
Teaching, learning and assessment
The programme is taught through a series of Friday or Saturday seminars and workshops (approximately one a month) and uses a variety of teaching and learning methods designed to enable participants to develop active learning techniques, reflect on practice and undertake independent research. Students have the opportunity to choose Friday or Saturday as their preferred day of attendance.
Approximately 50% of the programme is delivered using the internet, and participants are encouraged to use email to communicate with their coach/mentor and their tutors and supervisors. It is possible, therefore, to undertake the programme as a partially distance-learning student by making use of the web-based materials and choosing option modules that are either work-based or taught totally online.
All teaching, learning and assessment activities draw on the professional backgrounds, experience and knowledge of participants and encourage critical reflection.
There are no examinations; assessment is entirely based on a variety of coursework assignments and the dissertation.
Quality
Teaching staff have particular research interests and expertise in coaching and mentoring and related fields and are drawn primarily from the Business School and the Westminster Institute of Education. Visiting speakers from business and industry provide further input.
The reputation of the Business School is underpinned through membership of and programme accreditations received from the Association of MBAs, the Association of Business Schools, and professional associations such as the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, and the European Foundation for Management Development. The Business School is, therefore, widely regarded as one of the best within its peer group.
The Business School's programmes benefit from rigorous quality assurance procedures and regularly receive excellent feedback from external examiners, employers, students and professional bodies. In 2005, Business and Management achieved 'Broad Confidence', the best possible result, in the discipline audit trail as part of the Quality Assurance Agency Institutional Audit.
Many students who graduate from Business School programmes go on to achieve high status in the industry of their choice.
The Business School has an active programme of research based around six key research areas:
* Accounting, Governance and Information Management
* Economics and Strategy
* Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism Management
* Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour
* Marketing and Operations Management
* Pedagogy
The School maintains a rigorous and dynamic doctoral programme leading to the higher degrees of MPhil and PhD. Postgraduate students join a supportive, friendly and multicultural research environment.
Other programs related to educational counselling (guidance counselling)