Coaching in education is a powerful pedagogy. Creating the right culture for change is far easier to manage where coaching principles are a part of the process. Coaching is solutions focused, builds on what already works well and highlights the positive.
The current imperative to look closely at the curriculum and how it is designed and delivered has many elements that all need expert leadership and careful management. Research from OFSTED is helping to explain some of the drivers for change but does not necessarily provide the answers to how that change might be implemented effectively across all phases, year groups and subjects. Learning how to coach can provide all staff with the skills, self-belief and self-awareness that will help them to have the confidence to innovate and give them the tools and skills to shape a new future together with their teams, their colleagues and their pupils.
“Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them”
It is clear from reports and experiences from those who have recently been visited by OFSTED that inspectors are not spending much time interviewing the head or the senior leadership team, they are heading into the classroom, talking to teachers and to pupils, reviewing how the curriculum content is determined, sequenced and assessed and looking closely at the quality of output from pupils. They want to see the expertise of leadership as a part of the learning process and how that leadership translates into a high quality, deep and rich curriculum delivered by highly trained and well-informed practitioners.
Where coaching is the driver for change there are superb opportunities for professional dialogue where individuals can share their planning, look for cross-curricular opportunities and collaborate about pedagogy, progression and learning. Where teachers learn how to coach, they also have a repertoire of skills including deep and rich questioning strategies, influencing techniques and active listening skills that will reap outstanding opportunities for progression and deeper learning in the classroom.
Create a learning culture through coaching and be safe in the knowledge that there is outstanding learning emerging from a deep and rich curriculum and through a shared dialogue and commitment to continuous improvement. We have designed a coaching culture with a series of coaching courses for all staff working in education.
- Leading a Coaching School – Creating a whole school positive culture where professional dialogue fosters high quality learning and achievement
- Leading from the Middle – How to use coaching to influence change, build outstanding teams and foster innovation
- Coaching Towards Outstanding Teaching and Learning – When teachers develop the skills of a coach, they use the most powerful and motivating pedagogy as part of leading learning in the classroom
- Coaching the Aspiring, New and Recently Qualified Teacher – Developing tools and techniques that go beyond mentoring to nurture confident and self-assured teachers
- Coaching in the Classroom with Pupils – creating the pedagogy that delivers deep learning, fosters resilience and creates reflective and independent learners
- Coaching for Pastoral Leaders and Year Heads – Developing the skills to support pupil resilience, reflection and well-being and inspire a culture of learning and positive attitudes
- Coaching for Teaching Assistants and Support Staff – Encouraging reflection, innovation and challenge
- Coaching for Cover Supervisors – Creating seamless learning when the teacher isn’t there