INTERCULTURAL COACHING IN EDUCATION: THEORY AND PRACTICE

Based on coaching and educational experiences with Latvian and German students, the importance and characteristics of intercultural training and coaching may be demonstrated. Besides targeting to an increase of intercultural sensibility for a group of participants, intercultural coaching focuses on accompanying the individual's specific processes and provides support to the individual working internationally. As such intercultural coaching focuses strongly on the requirements of the targeted group and cannot be standardized. Each and every situation and interaction has its own individual context and history. International coaching should therefore be part of a target or specific goal oriented agreement which acts as the basis of a relationship between coach and client; thus, the coach has the task to analyze the spontaneous dynamics, the meanings and the consequences of the new situation. The research describes theoretical aspects of and practical experience with intercultural coaching concerning educational situations and contexts (communication, learning, teaching, counseling), following the different aspects of intercultural coaching in educational situations (language, history, mentality).