Coaching for Connected Parenting

Aims of the course

• Introduce parents and educators to core coaching principles and demonstrate how these principles can be applied effectively in everyday family and educational contexts.
• Develop key coaching skills for working with children and young people, including active listening, powerful questioning, emotion regulation and effective reflections.
• Equip parents and educators with practical coaching tools that support children’s confidence and autonomy, fostering healthier, more collaborative relationships at home and in educational settings.

Target audience

• Parents of children and young people aged 10–20 who want to help their children discover their passion, build motivation, and develop confidence and wellbeing.
• Educators, caregivers and family-focused professionals (including teachers, pastoral staff and family support workers) who work closely with children and adolescents and want to strengthen communication with families.
• Individuals interested in using coaching-based tools to improve communication, relationships and emotional understanding within family environments.
• Beginners- no prior coaching experience or formal training is required.

Welcome week (Week 0)

Purpose:

• personal introductions
• introducing the course
• useful reading
• personal objectives

Teaching Week 1: How a Coaching Mindset Can Help Parents

Purpose: 

This week introduces the foundational principles of coaching and why these principles are increasingly valuable for today’s parents and educators.

Learning outcomes: 

• what coaching is and how it differs from other forms of support, such as advising or directive, solution giving approaches
• why the coaching mindset is particularly beneficial for parents and educators in modern family contexts
• how coaching conversations alleviate domestic challenges, including low motivation, peer pressure and decision-making

Teaching Week 2: Follow the Child's Lead: Understanding Cues and Building Connection

Purpose:

This week we will focus on identifying children’s emotional and behavioural signals and responding with empathy in order to reduce conflict and strengthen cooperation.

Learning outcomes:

• use coaching-informed communication to recognise and respond to children’s cues
• ask supportive, thoughtful questions to build children’s confidence and resilience (aligned with the Engagement and Accomplishment elements of the PERMA wellbeing model)
• review how strong connection supports motivation, emotional safety and secure attachment (aligned with Positive Emotion and Relationships within PERMA)
• use Rolfe’s reflective framework to pause, make sense of interactions and choose more intentional responses

Teaching Week 3: Practical Coaching Skills to Support Your Child in Becoming Their Best Self Pt 1 (Emotional Presence & Self Regulation)

Purpose:

This week wil look at how to support parents in developing emotional self-regulation and a relational presence that promotes calm, trust and emotional safety.

Learning outcomes:

• recognise how parental emotional states influence children’s behaviours
• practise strategies for helping parents remain calm and present during challenging moments with children
• use reflective listening and curiosity-based questions to guide family conversations
• identify emotional triggers during interactions with children, in order to respond thoughtfully rather than reactively

Teaching Week 4: Practical Coaching Skills to Support Your Child in Becoming Their Best Self Pt 2 (Boundaries, Autonomy, and Repair)

Purpose:

This week will look to help parents establish clear boundaries and routines while supporting children’s autonomy, responsibility and resilience.

Learning outcomes:

• establish a small number of clear, non-negotiable boundaries using coaching principles
• use concise, reflective questioning to encourage responsibility and independent thinking
• support choice and autonomy within clear limits
• be able to pause before, and repair relationships after, conflicts

Teaching Week 5: The Power of Active Listening and Powerful Questions

Purpose:

This week consolidates learning by supporting parents and educators to translate earlier theoretical and practical content on coaching communication into intentional, context-sensitive everyday interactions.

Learning outcomes:

• active listening as the key to effective communication
• emotional validation as a foundation for trust, emotional safety and cooperation
• how children are empowered by powerful, thoughtful questions and intentional language
• practical coaching tools for communication, reflective problem-solving and routine-setting
• features of home environments that build trust, competence and emotional safety
• support for resilience and healthy independence through everyday interactions

Week 6: what next?

• assessment of student learning
• assessment of student satisfaction
• encouragement of further study

This course is open to everyone, and you don’t need any previous knowledge or experience of the subject to attend.  

Our short courses are designed especially for adult learners who want to advance their personal or professional development. They are taught by tutors who are expert in both their subjects and in teaching students of all ages and experiences. 

Please note that all teaching is in English. You should have near-native command of the English language to get the maximum benefit from the course.

Each week of an online course is roughly equivalent to 2-3 hours of classroom time. On top of this, participants should expect to spend roughly 2-3 hours of self-study time, for example, reading materials, although this will vary from person to person.

While they have a specific start and end date and will follow a weekly schedule (for example, week 1 will cover topic A, week 2 will cover topic B), our tutor-led online courses are designed to be flexible and as such would normally not require participants to be online for a specific day of the week or time of the day (although some tutors may try to schedule times where participants can be online together for web seminars, which will be recorded so that those who are unable to be online at certain times are able to access material).

Unless otherwise stated, all course material will be posted on the VLE so that they can be accessed at any time throughout the duration of the course and interaction with your tutor and fellow participants will take place through a variety of different ways which will allow for both synchronous and asynchronous learning (using discussion boards etc).

Fees 

The course fee includes access to the course on our VLE, personal feedback on your work from an expert tutor, a certificate of participation (if you complete work and take part in discussions), and access to the class resources for two years after your course finishes. 

Concessions 

For more information, please see our concessions information page. 

Alison Fordham Bursary

University of Cambridge Professional and Continuing Education is proud to offer the Alison Fordham bursary, which is awarded to students who wish to study on one of our short online courses via our VLE, reducing the fee paid by 50%. The bursary is limited to a single award for each set of online courses. 

Application criteria:  

• applicants should set out their personal learning motivations since priority will be given to those who are returning to learning after an extended break, or have not previously engaged with fully online learning, or are seeking to use the online short course as a bridge towards undergraduate award-bearing study
• applicants who can demonstrate financial need 

For more information, please see our bursaries information page. 

A certificate of participation and a digital credential will be awarded to those who contribute constructively to weekly discussions, exercises and assignments for the duration of the course.