Coaching for secondary school adolescents: a systematic literature review

Purpose Recent research suggests that coaching in educational contexts plays a significant role in positive youth development. However, there is a scarcity of reviews investigating the impact of coaching on adolescents. Therefore, a systematic literature review was conducted to identify the coaching interventions developed in secondary schools, analyze how they propose the intervention process and what dimensions of positive youth development they improve. Design/methodology/approach The systematic literature review method was applied to a sample of publications indexed in the Web of Science and Scopus databases, with no date restrictions, in English or Spanish, and applied to secondary school students. Findings About 28 publications were included with precise information on the uses, areas of application and effects of coaching on students. About 45 dimensions were found, which were classified into five areas of positive youth development: personal, social, emotional, cognitive and moral. In all areas, there were dimensions with significant results due to the intervention, but this depended on the duration and type of application: individual, group or mixed. The dimensions most developed in the interventions were well-being, interpersonal relationships, conflict resolution, perceived competence and motivation. Originality/value A positive youth development model was used to gain a better understanding of the coaching intervention improvements. Some recommendations are provided to improve the implementation of educational coaching interventions targeting coaches and educational professionals as well as for future systematic literature reviews.