Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Coaching as a social ritual: acting on people in a liberal-individualistic society (parenting, education, mental health care)

Project description

Social coaching off the field

Some of the world's best coaches can be found off the field. They are the teachers, healthcare workers and parents who empower others to produce the changes they need themselves. This is coaching as a social ritual. The EU-funded CoachingRituals project will study this aspect of coaching. Taking a comparative and empirically grounded perspective, the project will make the coaching ritual, its language game, applications and effects, into salient analysers of how we act nowadays on other people's behaviour and emotions. There will be three levels of analysis: macro-level analysis of the transformations of the moral environment, meso-level analysis of the institutional and actors' practices, and micro-level analysis of the coaching ritual's effects. The project will also shed light on coaching-related tensions and how to resolve them.

Objective

The major goal of this project is to establish a greater understanding of the pervasive and elusive practice of coaching (empowering people so that they produce themselves the changes they need) as a ritual action which is specific to liberal-individualistic societies that support the idea of a hidden potential in each of us.

This project will focus on the ways the coaching logic transforms three specific common social activities (parenting, teaching and mental health care) that have traditionally been characterized by an asymmetry between a person in a lower position and a person in a higher position. The multiplication of coaching devices in these fields however signals a loss of legitimacy of this feature. Through a comparative and empirically-grounded perspective, we will make the coaching ritual, its language game, applications and effects, into salient analysers of how we act nowadays on other peoples’ behaviour and emotions.

We will combine three levels of analysis: the macro-level analysis of the transformations of the moral environment, the meso-level analysis of the institutional and actors’ practices and the micro-level analysis of coaching ritual’s effects. Macro-level will require an international comparison between the United Kingdom, Italy, and France/French-speaking Belgium. Meso and micro-level will focus on the last area.

The study will also combine three methods: a comparative content analysis of controversies, participant observations of coaching performances in 6 different contexts, and semi-structured interviews with around 100 participants (coaching promotors; parents, teachers, caregivers providing coaching; adolescents, students and care receivers to which this logic is applied).

By taking the coaching ritual seriously and keeping at distance celebration or criticism, this project seeks not only to produce new theoretical knowledge, but also to shed light on coaching-related tensions and raise awareness among stakeholders.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

ERC-STG - Starting Grant

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) ERC-2019-STG

See all projects funded under this call

Host institution

UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 499 686,25
Address
PLACE DE L UNIVERSITE 1
1348 LOUVAIN LA NEUVE
Belgium

See on map

Region
Région wallonne Prov. Brabant Wallon Arr. Nivelles
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 499 686,25

Beneficiaries (1)

My booklet 0 0