COACHING FOR FEMALE EMPLOYMENT IN THE DIGITAL SECTOR IN ORDER TO PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY IN THE LABOUR MARKET

1.1. Understanding the factors for mutual respect and trust in a learning situation

As explained by Whitehead (2015), counselling and educating is a process that demands confidence from both the educators and the learners. Trust has a dynamic character, as Peña et al (2018) state, the vulnerability between the parts involved may vary during the interaction, increasing or decreasing. Trust relationships also change and fluctuate depending on how the other part behaves or responds to the trust placed on them. In the same way, trust relationships do not appear out of nothing, there is always a subjacent context in which these relations are created, and which influence the building of this trust: social contexts force values, sanctions and expectations that influence how we perceive the ability to be trusted by someone. In terms of building trust relationships, and according to Zapata et al (2009), there are different facets that have to be met:

• Benevolence: belief that a person will do everything in their power to help another, and that this person will always do what is best for the other person
• Honesty: characteristic that entails that the person will be always clear and authentic to the other person involved in the process
• Openness: ability of a person to share information with another, even if this means adopting a vulnerable position
• Reliability: ability to predict the behaviour of the person by the consistency between what they say and what they do
• Competence: ability to act according to the standards associated to their role, including behaviour, knowledge and functions

Regarding benevolence, the educator has to show that he or she cares about the learners, about their well-being and what they think or care about. The educator must show their good intentions to gain self-reliance. This will translate into a climate of trust that will improve the relationship between the adult educator and the learners (Peña et al, 2018). Openness and honesty are closely linked, as a lack of honesty can be seen as a way of hiding bad intentions. Transparency always shows good intentions, and if the learners believe that the educator is being honest, they will be more confident and will be keen on being honest too (Peña et al, 2018). Also closely related with these two is the reliability facet, which takes into account the coherence of the educator’s actions. Finally, and in terms of competence, showing ignorance regarding the teaching work, not bringing solutions to problems or conflicts that may arise, or reacting improperly to them will decrease the confidence of the learners in the educator. (Peña et al, 2018)

1.2 Creating a safe and supportive environment and respecting their beliefs and culture

In order to achieve the mutual respect mentioned above, the adult educator will have the important task of creating a space that feels safe for sharing experiences, opinions and points of view. The educator must ensure that they are in a delimited and orderly space, without noise, and also provide the necessary material in each case.

In order to strengthen learners’ engagement in learning, the adult educator-coach should actively listen and respond to their possible questions. In this way, the educator will be attentive and concerned about their opinions and experiences. This means relating constructively with learners: having a good relationship and communication with your learners helps the training process and their development enormously, thus giving them the required individual attention and increasing the chances that they will receive the learning more easily. To achieve this, the educator will have to understand or at least completely respect their beliefs and culture. To sustain this and the already mentioned trust, it is recommended to follow the learners’ pace, and not to fall into non-constructive criticism towards some opinions or attitudes of the learners, neither allowing them from others.

A great way to create a supportive environment is to give differentiated instructions. The educator should plan the learning process: it is the fundamental competence that organises what is to be taught and what the students are expected to learn. This ensures learners coming from different academic experiences and have different skill sets that their needs are taken into account, and that the learning process is being adapted to fit them as best as possible (Starr, 2019). Another good option is to work following an asset model, which focuses on what the learner did right, instead of what the learner did wrong. If the educator takes this path, the learners will feel safer and more confident, as they will not only see the bad but also the great outcomes they are achieving through their learning process (Starr, 2019). The adult educator should meet regularly with learners to discuss their learning process, their goals and the difficulties they are facing, if any. The adult educator-coach should also put a focus on communication, which is a core characteristic of creating a supportive environment. (Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute, 2020)

1.3 Maintaining effective communication

The way in which the adult educator communicates with learners has a lot of importance, as it is recognised in the “openness” and “honesty” aspects listed by Peña et al (2018). The adult educator has to be assertive while communicating with the learners, as they have a leadership role, but also because they will probably have to mediate in some situations. In this aspect, it is quite important to know the learners, to be able to adapt the process to their personal situation and needs. Moving away from respect, which we already discussed previously, there are other factors that ensure an effective communication between the adult educator and the learners. It is crucial that the adult educator gives positive feedback to those students who performed well in the activities carried out, as this would boost their self-confidence and motivate them to keep on investing in their own learning process (Hanifan, 2014). Another main skill that has to be present in the adult educator is the ability to listen actively. The educator needs to be able to listen to the learners but not just to give an answer, but also to learn about their personal background, as this can be very useful in promoting a supportive and caring environment (Hanifan, 2014).

In these regards, it is also very important to pay attention to nonverbal communication, like facial expressions and gestures. The educator should try to avoid negative nonverbal communication (like rolling the eyes, yawning, or putting a bad face when talking to a learner) as much as possible, as this could be identified by the learners, making them feel discouraged and affecting the trust-based relationship achieved during the previous stages of the process. (MOE, 2015)

1.4 Assertiveness in the learning environment

First, it is important to understand what assertiveness means. Assertiveness is having the ability to articulate ideas, thoughts and feelings in an honest, direct and appropriate way. This ability is based on mutual respect: for ourselves and for others. Being assertive is very important for the adult educator, as using this ability they are able to influence others. A coach or adult educator is assertive when they are able to express their personal wishes and feelings while respecting the rights and feelings of the other. This increases their self-esteem, their self- confidence and this, in turn, makes their relationships with those around them more satisfactory, in this case with the learners.

It will also improve their listening and negotiation skills, which are handy and useful skills to have in a learning environment. The educator has to keep in mind that, although there is a friendly relationship between them and the learners, the adult educator is still in charge of the session. In order to be assertive, the counsellor should use “I” statements, like “I believe”, “I am certain”, “I want”, etc. The adult educator should also get comfortable with saying “no” and establishing their own boundaries, as this would help them manage the classroom better and focus on the learning process of the female learners (Mayo Clinic, 2020).

Being assertive is also very important when receiving and giving feedback, something crucial in the learning process. Learners need to give feedback to the educator, to make sure that he or she is following the right path on their education; but educators also have to give feedback to students, in order to let them know if they are achieving the goals they set at the beginning. To someone who’s assertive, feedback is the perfect tool leading to growth and new insights, and they are not afraid neither to give nor receive it. (Wignall, 2019). Finally, the educator has to keep in mind that time is important, and that pressuring a learner that is blocked may lead to disagreements. Thus, giving some space to those students who are having some troubles is important, as well as letting them know that they are supported and that they can ask for help if they need to (Wignall, 2019).

However, the educator should keep in mind that assertiveness and aggressiveness are not the same, and the latter should be avoided, in order not to damage the trust and the friendly relationship established with the learners. Being assertive is really important for educators, as those that are too passive have a hard time handling issues that may arise during the learning process, and have difficulty managing a classroom; and those who use aggressive communication do not control their anger, thus they tend to use angry words like swearing, shout and scream, and can be seen as intimidating. Moreover, when the adult educator adopts an assertive communication style, they set an example for their learners. (Stanfield, 2020) 

Pictures are taken from Istock. (2021)