Coaching in action

 

Mr Stephen Clayson Severn Vale School Gloucester, England, United Kingdom

 

Abstract: In this document I outline how we have approached the implementation of coaching at Severn Vale School. We have found that, although the introduction of coaching has been challenging, it has empowered and engaged teachers in their own personal development. In this paper I outline the key lessons learnt as we have developed coaching. I also highlight some of the future developments we have planned.

 

Severn Vale School is a mixed 11-16 comprehensive operating within a selective environment in the city of Gloucester. There are approximately 1,150 students on roll.

Following a drop in the GCSE results in 2003, the senior leadership team began to explore the introduction of coaching as a key part of the school improvement programme. Their aim was to introduce coaching to encourage staff to become professional learners who had time to reflect upon their own teaching and share good practice.

In my capacity as an AST (Advanced Skills Teacher), I was asked to attend training in coaching led by Dene Magna School. This excellent training confirmed that coaching is a powerful tool for professional development. We felt that the best way to introduce coaching would be to initially work with a small group of staff. All teaching staff were consulted and asked if they would be interested in being involved in coaching. There was an impressive response, with 68% of staff indicating that they would like to get involved in the programme. I selected 15 teachers to be trained as coaches in the first year. Those selected were representative of the range of experience and subject specialisms within our staff. I felt that it was important to show that the coaching is grounded upon a willingness to learn, rather than your experience. The pairing of staff reflected this philosophy. For example, the headteacher is currently being coached by a newly qualified teacher.

Crucially, the 15 staff selected for the coaching had 18 hours non-contact time for lesson observations and coaching. Coaching training was delivered through a one-day course and three twilight sessions. The trial was a success and staff reported overwhelmingly that they found having time to reflect and explore their own learning (and that of the students) to be very powerful. Therefore, this year we rolled out the coaching programme to all teaching staff, including the senior leadership team. On the whole, the initiative has been well received. Some common examples of feedback from staff include:

‘Coaching has given me confidence in what I'm doing and has made me look at situations from a different angle.'

‘Coaching has helped me focus on important issues and improve the standard of my lessons.'

‘It has helped me reflect upon lessons without me feeling criticised.'

I have found the implementation and development of coaching is a dynamic process. There is a demand to constantly respond to the changing needs of the individual learners and the staff as a whole. The systems that are set up to facilitate coaching in schools need to be flexible and those leading the process must be willing to listen, reflect and respond to this demand. I have reflected upon the coaching at Severn Vale School and have identified a number of key elements that have enabled it to start successfully.

Close monitoring and support

Each term coaching partners observe a lesson and coach each other. Following this, they complete paperwork that outlines their learning and the focus for their next coaching session. This feedback is vital, since it allows me to monitor coaching across the school. With this feedback I am able to support staff by providing advice or resources. In addition to this, staff training sessions have been specifically designed in order to respond to problems or concerns raised through the feedback forms.

Sharing good practice

Staff sharing new ideas, innovations or gains to their own professional development through the coaching process has played an important role in highlighting the effectiveness of the coaching programme. I have set up a number of systems to encourage staff to talk about how coaching has helped to develop their learning. Each term a coaching newsletter is circulated to give suggestions and share ideas on how to develop our skills as coaches. The newsletter also outlines new resources or materials that are available for staff. A notice board in the staff workroom is used to outline some of the new ideas that staff are trying out in their lessons and a website is now available for staff to share ideas about pedagogy, ranging from assessment for learning to starters and plenaries.

There is a DVD camera specifically for coaching. This has been used by coaches to monitor themselves as they coach and in lesson observations. Currently we are using this to develop a staff library on the effective use of Assessment for Learning.

Despite the large time investment to maintain these systems, they play a very important role in celebrating the gains made by staff through the coaching programme.

Developing trust

Ensuring that there is trust between all those involved in the coaching process is essential. Care has been taken to listen to the needs of the teachers: they are stakeholders in the coaching programme. It has been made clear that the coaching programme is designed to facilitate their personal and professional development, and that coaching is a non-judgemental process. The role of the coach is not to instruct or tell. This is important because, when people feel threatened, they are less likely to take risks and be honest. Consequently, staff were consulted and involved in the process of deciding who their coaching partner should be. It was not possible for all staff to be placed with their number one choice. However, in the majority of cases, staff were partnered with someone with whom they already had an established relationship.

Making time for coaching

All staff have 18 hours set aside for observing and coaching each other over the year. Freeing up this time has been central to the success of the coaching programme. Staff would have been unwilling or unable to take on the additional demands of lesson observation and coaching if they had not been given the time to do this. Given the progress made over the past year, the investment made by the school has proven to be a shrewd one. The sharing of ideas, learning from each other and the willingness of teachers to innovate and learn in the classroom has been impressive.

Currently, 14 members of staff are using the coaching programme to gain accreditation towards a Masters Degree in Professional Development. This reflects the impact that coaching has had on encouraging staff to develop their own professional practice.

Despite the progress made so far, it would be untrue to suggest that we have the perfect model for coaching in schools. I have learnt that there is no simple model that will guarantee the successful introduction of a coaching programme within a school. There are still challenges that we face at Severn Vale School. These include the need to develop teachers' coaching skills further, training new staff and the need to provide more time for staff to reflect, plan and develop their learning. I am currently considering the value of developing ‘enquiry groups' within the school. These enquiry groups would be formed from teachers who are interested in developing a specific area of their own practice. Also, I am interested in trialling a coaching model outlined in the key stage 3 Leading in Learning project.

I hope that some of the ideas I have discussed are of interest and I would value any suggestions or advice that colleagues may have on how to develop coaching further at Severn Vale. In addition, if you have any questions about our work, please feel free to ask.

 

Mr Stehpen Clayson is an Advanced Skills Teacher at Severn Vale School, in Quedgeley, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, in the UK. His roles include leading the development of coaching and Learning to Learn at Severn Vale School since April 2004. He currently manages the whole school coaching programme. In addition, Mr Clayson is interested in ways of developing students thinking skills. He teaches a Learning to Learn course for year 9 students, and has begun the development of ‘Brain Building Days' for year 7 students. Mr Clayson is also working with two science departments on developing Cognitive Acceleration though Science Education (CASE) materials. Other areas of interest have led him to train staff on developing questioning skills and using strategies to improve students' listening skills. Mr Clayson invites all online conference participants to contact him regarding any of these developments (please contact the online conference manager for his email address).

Join the online discussion for all supporting papers from Monday 19 June to Sunday 26 June 2006.