Summary
This page describes how Fontas ICT shapes student coaching. The guidance chain is explained, who holds which responsibility in this chain and which quality requirements we apply.

“Students know that they are seen, heard and valued at Fontas. They feel at home.” (Fontas framework Talent‑Centred Education, 2024). Within the Talent‑Centred Education framework (TCE) student coaching plays a crucial hub function. It links Fontas’s ambition with the student’s actual agency in practice.

Within TCE student coaching can be defined in three ways:

1. The instrument for ‘Agency’: The core of talent‑centred education is that students own their own learning process. Because students are given freedom of choice, we want to support them in making those choices and in directing their personal learning trajectory.

2. Prerequisite for ‘Flourishing’: Student coaching does not only focus on study progress, but on the student as a whole person. It adopts a preventive and supportive stance to ensure a student can study “healthy, well and happy”. This is called learning to flourish.

3. Shared responsibility: Student coaching is not an isolated activity; it is part of the broader guidance chain.

“Within talent‑centred education (TCE) student coaching is an important instrument to challenge students and support them in taking agency, discovering and developing their personal and professional identity and moving across disciplinary boundaries as the labour market requires. This gives students the opportunity to develop other skills, such as career‑ and life‑skills. It calls for student coaching that supports healthy, well and happy studying, i.e. learning to flourish.” (Fontas framework Student Coaching, 2025)

Fontas ICT deliberately uses student coaching as the instrument to stimulate agency and identity development. In line with our teaching vision Student‑Centred Teaching Fontas ICT adopts a structural, cyclical form of guidance in which the relationship between student and coach is central.

Our emphasis is on:

Close to the student: We aim to be as close as possible to the student in order to provide high‑quality coaching. We offer coaching in which students feel seen and supported.

Tailored guidance: We respond to the diversity of our students. Every student is allocated a student coach who addresses the individual needs of that student.

Signalling and referral: We aim to detect when conditions hinder learning. We act quickly with other members of the guidance chain and encourage and facilitate students to take steps forward.

Fontas ICT follows the Fontas framework Student Coaching for the design of the guidance chain. Student coaching is a collective responsibility.

The chain consists of:

• Student;
• Teaching team coaches the content and craftsmanship (the ‘navigating’);
• Student coach coaches the personal and professional identity (the ‘flourishing’);
• Student+ supports students with a (temporarily) more intensive need for assistance that requires more expertise or time than a student coach can provide;
• Student services dean, psychologist, study‑choice adviser, confidential counsellor;
• External care network GP, emergency services 112 and 113.

We expect students to adopt a proactive attitude towards their learning. A student is responsible for recording conversations in MyCoach and for indicating coaching needs. When support is offered, we expect students to take agency and engage actively. Finally, students contribute to quality assurance by providing feedback on the performance of their teaching team and student coach.

Student coaching is an integral part of the learning process. The teaching team coaches the achievement of learning outcomes and the study plan.

The teaching team’s responsibilities in student coaching are:

• Teach students to navigate their learning process;
• Help students discover and apply their talents;
• Support and strengthen the student’s agency;
• Coach students in demonstrating learning outcomes and provide development‑oriented feedback;
• Teach students to work collaboratively in groups;
• Identify and discuss barriers to learning and, where appropriate, refer to the student coach;
• Provide pedagogical‑didactic coaching.

The teaching team shares joint responsibility for the delivery of student coaching. The team decides who fulfils the student‑coach role and arranges a workable distribution. Where desired, a student may retain the same student coach for several semesters.

In addition, the team monitors the quality of guidance and referrals, organises regular peer‑review sessions based on case studies, and is accountable for quality assurance and professional development.

Within Fontas ICT the student coach is part of the teaching team. The role is filled by a lecturer who has affinity and/or expertise in guidance and coaching.

Fontas ICT adopts a dual‑role model. A student coach is often also an expert, tutor or technical coach. Consequently, the student coach acts both as mentor and assessor within the teaching process. This dual role requires transparency, a professional attitude and clear communication with the student.

The student coach is the first point of contact for the student on matters of wellbeing, study progress and career development.

A student coach coaches the student in:

• Learning to flourish through the learning process;
• Personal development and professional identity formation;
• Career planning while taking special circumstances into account;
• Adjusting the personal learning pathway.
• Additional responsibilities of the student coach include:

Ensuring the student creates and records a study plan;

• Signalling and referring study, motivation or wellbeing issues;
• Supporting and strengthening the student’s agency;
• Co‑assessing the learning outcome “Personal Leadership”;
• Recording conversations in MyCoach;
• Facilitating hand‑over to the next student coach.

Coaching conversations between a student and a student coach should ideally take place individually and face‑to‑face. Other formats may be used when appropriate to the situation, for example within PRO, in special circumstances or later in the programme. Group meetings can be organised on topics such as planning, study skills and programme choices.

Each semester the following topics are discussed:

• Introduction;
• Review of study plan and progress;
• Programme choice or pathway justification;
• Wellbeing aspects;
• Special circumstances (if relevant);
• Semester closure and hand‑over.

The student records these conversations when they are relevant to study progress. The introductory and hand‑over meetings are always recorded in MyCoach.

A student coach detects early when a student needs to be referred. Referral occurs when:

• Problems are structural or complex (mental, financial, social);
• There is a more intensive or specific guidance need (e.g. Student+);
• Professional help is required (e.g. psychologist, dean).

When a student is referred, the student coach remains in contact with the student and the second‑line guidance.

To ensure a smooth hand‑over between student coaches, a student reflects at the end of a semester: What went well? What helped? What will I need next semester? This reflection is discussed in a closing conversation with the student coach and recorded in MyCoach.

At the start of a new semester the student and the new student coach create a plan based on this reflection. Where necessary, a meeting takes place between the outgoing and incoming student coach. The student is involved in this warm hand‑over, which is also logged in MyCoach.

The student coach actively works on personal development as a coach and is part of the Fontas ICT Student Coaching network. Student coaches regularly attend:

• Professional development meetings;
• Sessions on curriculum changes;
• Trainings focused on coaching, conversational practice, signalling and wellbeing.

Student + is Fontas ICT’s dedicated support team for students with a (temporarily) higher intensity of support needs. Examples include neuro‑divergent students, those with physical or mental health issues, procrastination, feedback requests, finding or securing an internship, collaboration and communication challenges, or students combining study with elite sport, a business, or caring responsibilities. A student can book an appointment with the internal support team themselves; a student coach can also refer a student.

Student+ supports students through appropriate interventions. In addition to the regular student coach, students may receive guidance from a study coach or benefit from group coaching, peer‑review, training or workshops. The aim is to provide temporary, fit‑for‑purpose support to enhance study success and wellbeing. The Student+ offering is listed on the student hub.

If a student requires long‑term support throughout their programme, a mentor can be requested via Student+. Student+ also acts as a sparring partner for student coaches with support‑related questions.

Student services comprise the support team at Fontas. A student can arrange an appointment via the “Fontas helps” website and a student coach can refer a student. The website provides practical information on mental wellbeing, study delays and motivation.

The support team includes:

• A student dean who can help with motivation issues, find suitable solutions for barriers (e.g. a pause or discontinuation) and request provisions from the examination board and DUO;
• A student psychologist who offers short‑term therapy for concerns or problems;
• A study‑choice adviser who assists with doubts about programme suitability, making a new programme choice or decisions about work and further study;
• A confidential counsellor who is the point of contact for unwanted behaviour or an unsafe feeling (e.g. bullying, sexual harassment, racism, discrimination, aggression or violence).

Students can also receive support outside Fontas, for example from a GP. In acute situations emergency services 112 and 113 can be called. Career Jumpstart is a support team within Fontas and TU/E that assists students and graduates with additional support needs (e.g. autism, ADHD, performance anxiety, high sensitivity, dyslexia and physical or mental health issues) in finding a suitable (graduation) internship or job.