The author argues that coaching – a non-directive approach to supporting one's thought process – seems to be very useful in educational circumstances. This argument also applies to using particular coaching skills and competences, which seem to be quite generic and desired in many social professions. Many teachers and counsellors are already quite active in using coaching skills, even if most of them are not aware that their specific (personal) communication patterns are very similar to using this »new« approach. More and more educators, including the author, take up the opportunity to participate in more “tangible” education for providing professional coaching services.
The demostration reflects upon three years of author's experience in using coaching skills in the classroom, within mentorship relations (psychology classes for 16 – 19-year-old gifted students) and in her practice as school counsellor. She also presents a few short case studies that describe results of coaching use in her practice of school counsellor and show how coaching can be used to support talent enforcement and/or development. This can be achieved through supporting and challenging (already existing) intrapersonal processes, which are directly linked to students’ area(s) of giftedness - by asking “the right questions at the right moments”. On the other hand, coaching can also contribute to individual's talent development/management in a more indirect way, through progress in other areas (i.e. forming a healthy image of self…). The author’s experience shows that a variety of gifted students can benefit from the use of coaching – both in individualized and group circumstances. The author argues that using the mentioned approach ideally fits into the frame of working with gifted adolescents – especially, because it can be used to support different kinds of talents (cognition, creativity, interpersonal skills, sports…). Certain conditions, which will be discussed during case study presentation, should be provided for successful implementation.