That’s political! A Freirean perspective towards coaching as a social practice

Abstract

Demands to re-embed coaching into its larger social context of operation have generated calls to better document the political aspects of this human learning and development process. To address this critical social turn, this empirical article explores the reframing by practitioners of their understanding of coaching practice, using a Freirean lens of oppression and emancipation. The study consists of a 9-month co-operative inquiry with a group of Egyptian practitioners engaged in a praxis comprising initial training and subsequent cycles of action and reflexive workshops about their coaching sessions. Our study found that a Freire inspired praxis led coaches to develop a dialectical understanding of oppression – moving from conflicting dichotomies to a dynamic view, which has implications for their attitude to and role in coaching. We discuss how the resulting politicization allowed the reframing of coaching as a social practice.

Beyond Coping and Adaptation: Towards a Sociology of Coaching.<strong> </strong>A Necessary Paradigm Shift to Address Contemporary Dramatic Social Change

“…The above developments are in line with previous studies suggesting that coaching should not be a simple neutral questioning (Gannon, 2021;Shoukry and Cox, 2018;Shoukry and Fatien, 2023). However, they pinpoint that non-neutral coaching should be understood not only in a militantnormative sense but primarily in an ontological sense.…”

Generative artificial intelligence and academia: Implication for research, teaching and service

“…These deep questions are begging for serious engagement. Especially in our educational practice, it is also essential that we consider how critical pedagogies, such as the ideas proposed by Paulo Freire (see Management Learning's forthcoming special issue celebrating his oeuvre) (Jamil et al, 2023;Shoukry and Fatien, 2023;Zulfiqar and Prasad, 2021), can be deployed to sustain a meaningful relationship with students and keep them at the centre of the education process. Universities must remain places that, above all, develop human potential and critical thinking, fostering dialogue among individuals, who -in identifying new questions and finding answers -are supported but not replaced by generative AI.…”

Politicizing and humanizing management learning and education with Paulo Freire

“…The shift that occurs in the meaning and embodiment of the practice of management, from technocratic, detached, and neutral, to one that fully recognizes the multiple and intersecting relations of oppression at hand and that through dialogue, reflection, problematization, and action can be reflexively reframed and re-oriented, is a powerful and pregnant realization. The affordances engendered by an engagement of Freire’s dialogical critical problematization are effectively exemplified in Shoukry and Fatien (2023) reframing of coaching as a social practice in this special issue.…”

“…In “That is political! A Freirean perspective towards coaching as a social practice,” Shoukry and Fatien (2023) provide a nuanced examination of coaching through Paulo Freire’s theories on oppression and emancipation. Challenging the predominantly functionalist and performance-oriented discourse in coaching, the authors present an empirical study conducted over 9 months with Egyptian coaching practitioners.…”