Christian van Nieuwerburgh

Christian van Nieuwerburgh was born to a Belgian father and a Japanese mother in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1971, thereafter spending his formative years there.

While living in Beirut, van Nieuwerburgh attended the American Community School and later completed a BA and MA in English Literature at the American University of Beirut. At the time of his studies, he worked as an English Literature teacher at both secondary school and university level, took up jobs in journalism and translating, and supported the family's Japanese restaurant business. Later on, he moved on to work in the sales and marketing industry.

In 1997, van Nieuwerburgh moved to the United Kingdom with his wife and son in order to obtain a PhD in English from the University of Birmingham, where his thesis was titled "Representations of Politically Empowered Women on the Elizabethan Stage". While working on his PhD, he worked various jobs, including at Waterstones and the Royal Shakespeare Company. He completed his PhD in 2007.

In 2012, he completed an MSc in Psychology at the University of East London.

In 2002, van Nieuwerburgh started working at the Warwickshire County Council as Deputy Head of Service, a position he held for 9 years until 2011. In his role, he provided training and professional development services to West Midlands schools and colleges. He took up the role of Executive Coach for the West Midlands Councils in September 2008, holding the role until for 6 years until 2014.

Since 2009, van Nieuwerburgh has spent half of his time working as an academic in coaching psychology. From September 2009 to August 2015, van Nieuwerburgh held the position of Senior Lecturer in Coaching Psychology at the University of East London. He later took up the role of Associate Professor of Coaching at the Centre for Coaching and Behavioural Change within the Henley Business School. He returned to the University of East London Stratford Campus as Professor of Coaching and Positive Psychology in April 2017.

The other half of van Nieuwerburgh's time has been spent developing his own business - he is the Chief Executive of ICCE Ltd. (International Centre for Coaching in Education), which he established to support "the development of coaching initiatives in educational settings globally." He has been holding the roles of Director of Research at Growth Coaching International and Managing Director of Growth Coaching UK since June 2014. In the past, he worked as a Consultant for AQR International.

Beliefs on coaching

In many of his books, van Nieuwerburgh acknowledges the wide range of definitions of coaching. At the same time, based on experience and research of literature, he posits that coaching:

• is a structured conversation that takes place between two people;
• aims to support a sustainable change in behaviours or ways of thinking;
• focuses on learning and development.

Van Nieuwerburgh suggests that being a successful coach requires being well-versed in the conversational process and having the necessary skills, such as the ability to actively listen, ask thought-provoking questions, summarise the learning experience, and give and receive feedback. He also maintains that adopting coaching as a "way of being" is essential, and is developed when the coach is able to reflect on their own experience and practice coaching.

Coaching in education

Van Nieuwerburgh is renowned for his thought leadership in coaching in educational settings. Throughout his academic career, he has explored the purpose of coaching in education, its transformational effects on educational experiences, and how it can be applied in schools and in higher education. Van Nieuwerburgh has suggested that coaching supports the notion that learning should be personalised, and encourage both the student and the teacher to develop throughout the learning experience. For students, opportunities for coaching include collaborating with fellow students to improve grades and skills, both academic and social. For teachers and administrators, coaching can help with transitions into new roles. Coaching is also used to support improvement in teaching skills and enhance performance in education institutions.

In 2010-2011, van Nieurwerburgh, together with colleagues from the University of Kent and University of East London, carried out a pilot project at the Sittingbourne Community College, where half of the 1,000 students were deemed to experience barriers to learning for various reasons. Van Nieuwerburgh et al. aimed to raise attainment by delivering coaching training to students over sixteen years old, supported their "interim reflective practice coaching sessions", and assisted in evaluating the project.

In June 2017, van Nieuwerburgh and executive coach John Campbell are scheduled to publish their book titled "The Leader's Guide to Coaching in Schools", which will provide a step-by-step model for delivering relationship-driven coaching in education.

Van Nieuwerburgh is married and has one son. He has noted that his hobbies include traveling and motorcycle riding. He has also expressed an interest in writing fiction and a goal to travel long distances on his motorcycle.