Can Life Skills Be Transfered Through To Coaching And Mentoring

Chapter One
Introduction and Orientation

1.1 Introduction and Orientation
It is well known in all families of the world that the experiences of the elders are
transferred as wisdom to the younger generation. It has never mattered if the
wisdom was up to date or relevant to the circumstances, it only mattered that the
‘stories’ be told. These life experiences or life skills are almost always mentored or
coached to those at hand of the one telling the stories. What is taken from these
stories is blended with new experiences and old ‘ways’ are produced. When a less
experienced person is mentored or coached according to the life skills of another,
they are subject to the coping skills of another.
It is potentially plausible to establish a method in which the life skills of a person can
be transferred to another person without affecting their individual plight to owning
their own understanding and developing personal relevant coping skills.
By using a method by which to ‘filter’ the experiences of a person into different
allocations within a model, you would only need to take from the model that which is
relevant to you or your students. By subjecting you past experiences to a model of
the like, you would potentially be able to‘re-allocate’ your experiences into usable life
skills that can be mentored and coached to others within their capacity to learn and
accept it.
With this being possible, it would allow for the wisdom of ‘yesterday’ to be used as a
tool to organise the life skill of today and promote correct transfer of information
through standardised coaching and mentoring practices into tomorrow.
1.2 Problem Statement
“How can we transfer experienced life skills into coaching and mentoring through use
of a model?”

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1.3 Conceptualization
1.3.1 Life Skills
• Life skills are a set of human skills acquired via teaching or direct

experience that are used to handle problems and questions commonly
encountered in daily human life. (See Wikipedia, Life Skills, October 2009)

1.3.2 Coach
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Coaching is a method of directing, instructing and training a person or
group of people, with the aim to achieve some goal or develop specific
skills. There are many ways to coach, types of coaching and methods to
coaching. Sessions are typically one-on-one either in-person or over the
telephone. Direction may include motivational speaking. Training may
include seminars, workshops, and supervised practice.

1.3.3 Mentor
•

Mentorship refers to a developmental relationship in which a more
experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or
less knowledgeable person—who can be referred to as a protégé, or
apprentice -- to develop in a specified capacity.

1.4 Objective and Aims of Research
1.4.1 Objective
Proposed model on transference of life skills to coaching and mentoring.

1.4.2 The following aims are planned for this research.
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Clear understanding of Life Skills
Clear understanding of Coaching and Mentoring with any potential
differences
A model by which to transfer the relevant life skill from one to another
through a process of Coaching and Mentoring
A model as guide to Coach and Mentor life skills to another that are
relevant and without the ‘baggage’.

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1.5 Research Methodology
Mouton (in Garber’s, 1996:15) wrote “Science, especially modern science, has a
long and often checked history. Some people view science as the highest
expression and embodiment of the human spirit and of creativity. In these circles,
science is sometimes seen as the most important liberating and progressive force in
the history of mankind.” This places the researcher to focus and concentrate on
ethical issues that influence the researcher’s decisions and activities. Therefore
concepts like “truth”, “rationality” and “objectivity” has to lead the research path.

This formulation of the close relationship between truth, rationality and objectivity,
emphasises the “social” dimension of science. The judgements according to which
(problem) statements are accepted or rejected are the collective judgements of the
scientific (research) community. Thus the scientific research comprises of:

• Truth: statements that establish stronger or weaker fits/approximations of the

truth, that are
• Rationality: accepted by the scientific community – on the basis of rational

evaluation and scrutiny.
• Objectivity: based on objective evidence derived from the application of

objective methods/techniques.

The researcher can use different methods to gather data for the research. The
different methods are literature study, qualitative or quantitative research methods.
A literature study is focussed on existing sources written by authorities on a
particular field of study. The sources must be studied and patterns or conquering
behaviour must be looked for to find the links to enlighten the problem statement of
the research. This will be an asset to existing research and prospects for future
research.

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1.5.1 Research methods
1.5.1.1 Literature study
McMillan en Schumacher (1992:112) wrote the following about literature study as
research methodology. “An interpretative review of the literature is exactly that – a
summary and synthesis of relevant literature on a research problem.” A literature
study is a critical review of the status of knowledge on a carefully defined topic.
Literature review enables a reader to gain further insights from the purpose and the
results of a study. Literature study includes many types of sources:

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Professional journals
Reports
Scholarly books
Monographs
Government documents and
Dissertations

A review of the literature serves several purposes in research. Knowledge from the
literature is used in stating the significance of the problem, developing the research
design, relating the results of the study to previous knowledge, and suggesting
further research. A literature study enables a researcher to:

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Define and limit the problem
Place the study in a historical and associational perspective
Avoid unintentional and unnecessary replication
Select promising methods and measures
Relate the findings to previous knowledge and suggest further research
(McMillan & Schumacher, 1992:113)

In literature study the researcher has primary and secondary source to use for the
theoretical foundation of the research. Primary sources are the original research
studies or writings by a theorist or researcher. Primary literature contains the full text
of a research report or a theory and thus is more detailed and technical. Examples
of primary literature sources are:
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Empirical studies published in journals/books
Scholarly monographs
Research reports
Dissertations

Secondary literature provides different information. A secondary source gives an
overview of the field, a general knowledge of what has been done on the topic of
research and a context for placing current primary sources into a framework.

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Textbooks on the field of study
Articles in encyclopaedias and magazines that summarise above-mentioned
sources.

The purpose of secondary sources is to get an overview of the field of study that the
researcher is researching. Literature study is structured and organised to make sure
all the relevant knowledge is found and use in the new research. Steps in reviewing
the literature include the following:

• Analyse the problem statement
• Search and read secondary literature
• Select the appropriate index for a reference service or database
• Transform the problem statement into search language
• Conduct a manual and/or computer search
• Read the pertinent primary literature
• Organise notes
• Write the review. (McMillan & Schumacher, 1992:117)

Above-mentioned logical steps will ensure that the researcher write a logical review
of literature researched.

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1.5.1.2 Research strategy
A researcher may choose to investigate a topic either because it is intrinsically
important or because it is contextual research.
A topic is sometimes investigates for its importance as a representative example of a
larger population of a similar phenomenon or event, in which case it is research of
universal importance.
The purpose with the first option is an in-depth description and explanation of the
specific phenomenon. Examples are case studies, in-depth interviews participant
observation and historical analysis. The purpose of the second option is to study a
representative number of phenomena or people and then to generalise. Surveys are
an example.
1.5.2 Summary
In the planning phase of a research, the researcher must have knowledge about
different research methods to gather data. The choice of research method and data
gathering techniques can enrich the research with original useful knowledge. The
research method helps also with the structuring and organising of the research. The
researcher must keep in mind the objectivity and validity with gathering data to
ensure reliable data in comparison to reality for future research problems. In chapter
one an overview of the research planning was given. The researcher stated the
problem and chooses literastudy as a research method.
1.6 The outline of the chapters in this research are as follows:

Chapter One Introduction and Orientation
Chapter Two Life Skills
Chapter Three Coaching and Mentoring
Chapter Four Proposed Model
Chapter Five Research Methodology
Chapter Six Summaries, Findings and Recommendations

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1.7 Summary
This is the proposed research that we will now journey through, with the hope of
finding and establishing a usable, criteria based model within to work. This
exciting prospect has the potential to make all life’s experiences a skill that is
available to whosoever is willing to obtain it.

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