Professional Coaching & Mentoring | Freire Institute

Develop your confidence, leadership and professional practice through personalised coaching and mentoring rooted in dialogue, reflection and empowerment.

Coaching and Mentoring for Professional Development

Find out how we can help you to become a more effective changemaker

A critical approach to professional  learning, reflection and  development

Professional development is often understood in terms of acquiring skills, improving performance or achieving individual goals. Yet professional practice is also shaped by the organisations, institutions, relationships and social conditions within which people work. At Freire Institute, our approach to coaching and mentoring draws upon Paulo Freire's philosophy and pedagogy, placing dialogue, critical reflection and the relationship between learning and action at the centre of professional development. Rather than viewing individuals simply as recipients of expert advice, we recognise them as active participants in developing understanding of their own experience and circumstances.

Professional development as critical inquiry

Freire's educational philosophy encourages us to question established assumptions, examine the ways problems are defined and recognise the importance of people's own knowledge and experience. Applied to professional development, this means looking beyond individual skills and behaviour to consider the organisational relationships, institutional expectations and structures of power that influence professional practice. It also means recognising that learning is not simply preparation for action. Understanding develops through reflection upon experience and through engagement with the practical circumstances of our lives and work. Our approach creates opportunities for professionals to examine significant questions, develop their judgement and consider possibilities for changing practice.

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Coaching, mentoring and team inquiry through Changemakers

Our dedicated professional development and organisational change initiative, Changemakers @ Freire Institute , provides three complementary forms of support.

Professional mentoring

Brings relevant professional expertise and educational perspectives into dialogue with participants' experiences and questions.

Develop transformational leadership skills

Offers a collaborative process of inquiry into professional dilemmas, assumptions, relationships and possibilities for action.

Establish a network of changemakers

Supports groups in examining their shared practice, organisational relationships and opportunities for collective learning and change.

Each is available through structured engagements designed around different forms of professional or organisational inquiry.

Want to explore whether coaching and mentoring could work for you?

Book your 30-minute no obligation complimentary session

Explore the educational foundations

Paulo Freire

Coaching and mentoring are one application of the Institute's wider commitment to critical education, dialogue and praxis.

Discover Paulo Freire's Philosophy

Courses

You can also explore these ideas through our courses, educational resources and introductions to Paulo Freire's philosophy.

Explore Courses and Programmes

Coaching and Mentoring

For information about individual mentoring, critical coaching, team inquiry or professional development engagements, please visit Changemakers.

Visit Changemakers @ Freire Institute

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