Professor Lisa Taylor from the University of East Anglia argues that the focus on student success needs to be balanced with staff success, and offers coaching as a possible solution.
Student success
The higher education sector has been under increasing pressure to enhance and evidence student success. Frameworks such as Advance HE’s Essential Frameworks for Enhancing Student Success have been created to support staff in a strategic and consistent way when leading change, curriculum design, student support or learning and teaching.
Student success is now set to be under even more scrutiny to evidence good student outcomes and satisfaction with the recent publication of the post-16 education and skills white paper (HM Government, 2025). However, there is a fine balance to be struck between student and staff success, at a time where staff are beginning to reach a tipping point.
Staff success
After more than a decade of experience in employability leadership roles within higher education, I “get” the importance of focusing on student success but am also aware that this focus can sometimes be at the cost of staff success.
The higher education sector is full of committed staff who put students first in their efforts to achieve the best for students. But staff are facing significant challenges and pressures to provide high-quality education, whilst working within a context of financial pressures, job insecurity and increasing student numbers, with intensified scrutiny and metrics to evidence student success.
A “whole university approach” is needed to support the mental health and wellbeing of staff as well as students within higher education (Universities UK, 2023) with more strategic change to support the overall success of university education, as this is dependent on both student AND staff success (Weinberg, 2024) – it is not a one or the other option.
Occupational balance
In my employability leadership roles and as an Occupational Therapist working within higher education, I have always been struck by the link of the principles of a life-long and life-wide employability ethos and the theoretical underpinning of occupational therapy.
Terms such as occupational identity and occupational balance align with employability, and in turn, an individual’s success. As an individual you need to consider your occupational identity and occupational balance within your organisation and outside of work – as this is interlinked and impact on each other. This knowledge and understanding enables you to be able to identify and work towards your own individual and your organisation’s definition of staff success. However, the challenges of the day-to-day work within higher education does limit the time and head space to explore and establish this knowledge and understanding. One defined, focused and time limited method is coaching.
Coaching
Mentoring tends to be a long-term guided, advisory and supportive personal relationship between an experienced and less experienced individual. Coaching on the other hand is a short-term focused method supporting self-efficacy and agency, defined as “the art of facilitating another person’s learning, development, wellbeing and performance.
Coaching raises self-awareness and identifies choices. Through coaching, people find their own solutions, develop their skills and change their attitudes and behaviours. The aim of coaching is to close the gap between people’s potential and their current state” (Rogers, 2024 p.2). There is a wide body of evidence to support the valuable and positive impact that coaching has on an individual’s wellbeing and life, as well as their own professional growth and performance within their jobs. Therefore, coaching offers something that has the potential to support staff AND student success.
However, for the potential of coaching to be achieved, it needs to be part of a wider authentic culture of coaching. This culture is important to give permission to individuals to work towards their own staff success with consideration of their personal and professional lives.
One quote from an individual who I have recently coached reinforces, anecdotally, the potential impact of coaching.
“I have gained more clarity on what I want next from my career. I’ve learned that I could go through a hard experience like this again as I have more tools and a different perspective to navigate it. My wellbeing has improved which impacts all aspects of life.”
Coaching could be a potential win/win option to support staff AND student success.
Reflection
Take time to reflect on your own occupational identity and occupational balance. Consider what staff success means to you and your organisation and how you can begin to explore how to balance student success with your own staff success.
Avoiding the tipping point
Working within higher education is challenging, with a lot of focus on student success. However, without a focus on staff success, student success is not possible.
Coaching offers an evidence-based method of supporting self-efficacy and agency to impact positively on an individual’s life-long life-wide employability and consequent staff success. Staff success impacts on student success, helping to provide more of a balance, to avoid staff reaching a tipping point.
Lisa is Professor of Employability and Learning Innovation at the University of East Anglia. She is passionate about student and staff employability and learning innovations, has written three books and publishes and presents widely.
Lisa was awarded an Advance HE National Teaching Fellowship for her sustained and impactful work within employability. She created the multi award-winning Peer Enhanced e-Placement (PEEP) – a work-based learning placement model delivered entirely online which has now been adopted widely across the higher education sector.
Lisa has completed her ILM Level 5 Diploma in Coaching and Mentoring.
References
Norton, S. (2024) Essential Frameworks for Enhancing Student Success. Advance HE. https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/guidance/teaching-and-learning/essential-frameworks-enhancing-student-success
HM Government. (2025) Post-16 education and skills white paper. Government of the United Kingdom Crown Copyright 20 October 2025. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/post-16-education-and-skills-white-paper
Universities UK. (2023) Stepchange: mentally healthy universities. Universities UK 24 February 2023. https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/what-we-do/policy-and-research/publications/stepchange-mentally-healthy-universities
Weinberg, A. (2024) Why it’s time to promote staff wellbeing in universities. The British Psychological Society 10 October 2024. https://www.bps.org.uk/blog/why-its-time-promote-staff-wellbeing-universities
