Coaching compared to supervising and mentoring

So what's the difference between coaching, mentoring and supervising? Throughout this module you'll see the direct reference to those three terms and they're treated as very distinct approaches to the work integrated learning relationship between partners and students. Typically we try and break this down based on the level of engagement that you're having with the student and also, I guess the level of answer your providing to that student as well. In the case of supervising its quite a direct relationship so we would think that a question from a student would be answered with a direct response, essentially providing them with the answer to the problem which is very efficient but not necessarily allowing the student to think critically for themselves. In a mentoring relationship we might see that same question answered in a slightly different way where the mentor might recall some of their own experiences can say well this type of approach has worked for me but how might this work for you in your circumstance. From a coaching perspective that same question would simply be answered with another question. A question that asks the student to reflect on their own thought processes to identify their priorities, what they think is important in this particular situation and identifying perhaps a process for how they might solve that particular problem. This approach allows students to develop a deeper understanding of the knowledge that they actually have to bring to the table to solve that particular problem and also allows them to think critically about they can solve problems that they might be a bit uncertain on. By a coach supporting that thought process with the right questions it helps that student to develop experience in navigating those problems on their own so that eventually they can do that on their own and develop confidence that they can navigate that period of uncertainty and ambiguity with success.