They called her the ‘feelings teacher’, the students of the primary school where children’s coach Alexandra de Jong coaches a boy from classes 1 and 2. De Jong usually works at home at her practice in the Hoograven district of Utrecht, and sometimes at schools, with children between the ages of six and twelve who ‘get stuck’ because they are “not feeling well”, are overstimulated or have tantrums. . With the help of colorful picture books and games, De Jong helps children practice recognizing emotions and thoughts.
De Jong (40) studied human geography and worked as a consultant-researcher for housing associations. “At one point I thought: is this it?” After a reorganization, she spoke to a career coach. “It’s nice that there is someone who really cares for you, who genuinely listens and thinks along.” As a student she taught swimming lessons. “I preferred to work with children who did not fit in well with the group.”
The Netherlands now has more than a hundred thousand coaches. In contrast to the persistent shortages in professions such as nursing, education and police, there has been a large increase in coaching. In 2023, the Netherlands will have two and a half times more coaches than ten years ago. And anyone can become one; coaching is not a protected profession.
The geographical distribution of those coaches, according to figures from the Chamber of Commerce, is uneven. Relatively many coaches are registered in the Randstad, Gelderland and North Brabant, the lowest numbers are in Limburg, Zeeland and Northern Netherlands. The province of Utrecht has the highest concentration. There you will find one coach for every 108 inhabitants.
Photos: Photo Bram Petraeus
Where does the need to coach come from? And the need to be coached? Children’s coach De Jong thinks that the attraction lies in “sincere attention”. In a society where there is little time for others, there is a “commercialization of comfort”, according to psychiatrist Dirk De Wachter in an interview with NRC in which he called for being “each other’s psychiatrist” and “listening.” This raises the question: who can afford commercial healthcare?
“We do not immediately have an explanation for the high number of coaches in Utrecht,” says Geeske te Gussinklo of professional organization NOBCO. Coaches are more than average female, have theoretical training and mainly coach other highly educated people, according to a NOBCO survey among 1,700 respondents that was released this week.
The highly educated target group for coaches certainly exists in Utrecht. No fewer than 40 percent of the province’s residents have a higher vocational or university education, the highest percentage in the Netherlands. Utrecht is also a province with a relatively large working population – between 25 and 65 years old – the group that generally uses a coach.
In principle, coaching is not reimbursed by insurance, but can be paid for through a personal budget that some employers offer. Te Gussinklo sees that starting professionals are increasingly asking for coaching as a condition of employment. Many conversations with coaches are about self-development, burnout or the balance between work and leisure, the survey shows.
According to the NOBCO research, coaches often have a background in HR work, consultancy, education or healthcare. Children’s coach Alexandra de Jong recognizes this transition from education to coaching, who encounters many teachers in her area and at the professional association for children’s coaches who want to coach. “When you stand in front of a class of thirty children, there are always students among them who are not doing so well. It seems quite frustrating to me if you want to sit one-on-one with a student, but cannot do so due to the busy lesson schedule. I think this is going to hurt.”
Some kind of interrogation
Meditation workshops, coaching sessions and hip-hop evenings are organized in an old school building on the Merwedekanaal (“anti-squat”). Boxing coach Lucas Defares (54), in addition to his coaching, gives training once or twice a week (“more often is too intensive”). He used to work “on the street” as a social worker. “I started playing sports with young people who were homeless or in psychiatric care.” The young people ‘loosened up’ by exercising. Defares started training as a trainer because he became frustrated with the mergers and the administrative part of his job.
“You were given all kinds of restrictions: exactly so many hours for one customer. Coloring within the lines was not for me.” As a freelance coach and trainer, he can tackle his work any way he wants.
Before she became a walking coach, Yvon Beemsterboer (57) was a career coach, at a hospital, among others. She got tired of having “a kind of interrogation” with the client “inside” behind a desk. While looking for an alternative, she found walking coaching.
She started her own business and now speaks to customers, often young women, in Amelisweerd, a forest near Utrecht. Her rate for a coaching program – six walking sessions plus assignments, coffee and feedback – is around 1,400 euros.
Photos: Photo Bram Petraeus
On one of her rounds through winding paths in the forest, she says: “I now combine my own need for exercise with coaching. New ideas arise in movement and because you don’t look at each other but walk, it is less uncomfortable. When you sit opposite each other, you expect an answer more quickly.”
The three coaches do not immediately have an explanation for the high number of coaches in Utrecht. The fact that Utrecht is a university city where students stick around may play a role, De Jong suspects. “My parents live in the Achterhoek. You don’t ask for help there. If you don’t feel good, you don’t talk about it.” Utrecht is also not a “rock-hard commercial city,” says Beemsterboer. “We have many people-oriented companies, such as charities and non-profit organizations. I think the need to coach or be coached arises from that.” Beemsterboer customers mainly come from retail, healthcare and government. A large number of them keep coming back for separate sessions: “Like a kind of MOT inspection”.
Coaching is a “middle class thing,” Defares agrees. “Look, coaching is not my thing core business. I always check, especially with young people, whether they can afford it.” His rates are between 75 and 150 euros. “I want to keep it accessible and am relatively cheap as a coach. A personal trainer who simply provides sports training also requires this.”
De Jong sees that she mainly helps children of prosperous parents. “It’s a shame,” she says, “because I see that not all parents can afford this. The insurance does not cover it and I notice that the parents who come can bear it financially.” In the meantime, the professional organization for child coaches Adiona is investigating through a pilot whether a kind of “walk-in consultation hour” with child coaches at a primary school is possible, as a permanent addition to the teaching team.
De Jong is enthusiastic. She normally works outside school hours when students are free, this way it would be easier for her to speak to more children. According to her, it can have a preventive effect: “Perhaps in our view there are small things that affect children for which you do not start a whole coaching process.”
In his work, Defares encounters young people who do not always have enough money to pay for coaching. “I don’t believe you should do things for free,” says Defares. “But if it really doesn’t work, we can talk about it. Before the holidays I had a twelve-year-old boy with his father. There were all kinds of things going on at home, including domestic violence. A teacher asked if I could do something for him.” The boy came to Defares for breathing exercises. “I had time and could help him, so I said: that’s fine.”
None of the coaches do NRC spoke lives entirely from the income they earn from one-on-one coaching. For example, Defares and Beemsterboer supplement their income with group training, and Defares says he likes the variety. De Jong is working on building her practice and is currently financially supported by her partner.
Beemsterboer sees many novice coaches struggling. “If you keep asking questions, it’s always the same story. They have had a problem themselves, do a week’s training and call themselves coaches. Sometimes I think people think it’s easy and quick to earn. That is not true.”
Also read
The coach allows the teacher to talk less
