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Academic CoachingAlthough the use of coaches is best known in the arena of international athletics, professional coaching in the business world has long been established. In fact, the World Association of Business Coaches was formed nearly ten years ago (see their website www.wabccoaches.com for more details). There is, however, no such association for professionals working in international education. This is unfortunate, as every day I meet educators working in schools, colleges and universities who are feeling overwhelmed and who would welcome the kind of professional coaching that has been available in other fields for many years. ICIE offers Academic Coaching in four main areas:
Writing and Publishing The pressure to “publish or perish” has never been greater. However, even some professional educators who are good at research design, data-gathering and data-analysis can find academic writing a long and painful process. This may be especially true for professionals writing for publication for the first time and for those writing in a foreign or second language, often in English. Over the last 15 years, I have published approximately 80 pieces of work, covering a wide range of topics within international education. The publications fall into five main categories: books; book chapters; articles in academic and scholarly journals; articles in professional journals; conference proceedings. You can find details of these publications under Writing and Publishing. Academic Presenting A Google search of “fear of public speaking” hits more than 15 million sites in less than 1 second. The online bookseller Amazon lists nearly 3,000 books currently available on public speaking. These two figures reflect that fact that for many people, even accomplished international educators, public speaking and academic presenting are their greatest fears. As an invited speaker, workshop facilitator and consultant, I have given approximately 100 presentations and worked with 10,000 language teaching professionals in more than 20 countries and territories: Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Japan, Korea (South), Malaysia, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Poland, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. You can find details of these presentations under Academic Presenting. Team Building and Conflict Transformation in Academic Settings As with coaching, although the importance of team building and conflict transformation have been well established in business for some time, this is not the case in education. Perhaps this is because educators are thought to be naturally good at team building and conflict transformation. In some cases this may be true, but in most of the many schools, colleges and universities where I have worked, there is conflict and there are dysfunctional and unproductive teams. Although team building and conflict transformation are not the same, in my experience they are often closely related, so healthier and more productive teams can be created by addressing the conflict, even when it may not be possible to resolve it, in which case transformation may still be possible. See Academic Positions for details of my work, which includes my time working in hospitals in England as a science officer. If you or your organization would like the support of an academic coach, please email me at icie@andycurtis.org. |
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