Mentoring and coaching + advice and guidance + ? = deep support

 

Ms Sue Williamson Specialist Schools and Academies Trust London, UK

 

Recently, I watched a Pathe newsreel about the opening of a new school in the 1950s. The girls were shown sitting at typewriters; the boys were doing woodwork. It was neat and orderly and everyone clearly had a defined role and, probably, also knew their future career path. The difference between the technology of the 1950s and today's new technologies is striking. Even more evident are the different challenges facing students. To be successful students need deep support.

Andy Schofield, Headteacher of Vardean School, in Brighton, England, believes:

'Students will need deeper support, much deeper support, if school is going to be reconfigured around individuals' learning. Students don't necessarily always make the right choices and so (they need) a really significant level of guidance and help in relation to finding the pathways through their learning opportunities'.

In a previous online conference, we looked at advice and guidance. This conference is exploring mentoring and coaching. But what else besides advice and guidance, and mentoring and coaching, leads to deep support? Why do students and educators need deep support?

The concept of deep support comes from the work of David Hargreaves on personalising learning and the nine gateways. This work has involved hundreds of headteachers and senior school leaders, mainly in England, but also overseas. It is quite clear that schools are changing to meet the needs of their students. These changes can be seen in the following developments.

The curriculum. In England, many schools are operating a two-year key stage 3 and utilising the 'spare' year for 'learning to learn' courses; or starting GCSEs early. Lessons are being replaced by projects.

• Changes to pastoral systems. Many schools have abolished the Head of Year system. Some have introduced multi-discipline teams that do not include teachers.
• The organisation of teaching and tutor groups. Schools like Bridgemary School, in Gosport, and Leigh CTC ( City Technology College ), in Dartford, have introduced vertical tutor and teaching groups.
• The use of new technologies. Schools are putting their lessons onto their intranet and students and parents have 24-hour access. Many schools operate anytime, anywhere learning. Schools are also struggling with questions regarding 'good or bad' technology - many schools do not allow instant messaging or mobile phones. Alan November strongly urges schools to teach the grammar of the internet and to research carefully the origins of websites.
• Schools joining together to provide support services for students within the community. In England, the Every Child Matters (ECM) agenda has driven schools to re-think their support mechanisms for students. There is also recognition that single schools cannot provide the full range of services. This has led to cooperation and collaboration, as well as federations of schools. Fosse Way School, a special school with technology college status, hosts a Multi-Agency Support Team (MAST) that includes an educational psychologist, an education welfare officer, a social worker and an occupational therapist. This support is provided to mainstream schools, as well as other special schools.

Mentoring and coaching is being used effectively to provide support for students and adults.

Student to student mentoring - students are trained as mentors and help their peers through problems, both within and outside of the school context. Often students regard their peers as more trustworthy sources of support and advice than adult advisers.

• Teacher to student
• Adults other than teachers working with students - many schools have found the use of business coaches/mentors extremely beneficial.
• Other supporting papers in this online conference demonstrate the value of adult-to-adult coaching, including headteacher mentoring.

The new technologies contribute to this work. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust has a very effective e-mentoring pilot being rolled out on a national basis. Management Information Systems (MIS) and Managed Learning Environments (MLE) can provide staff and students with the data and tools to monitor performance against targets.

What else is needed for deep support?

To try to ascertain the answer to this question, the Trust is establishing a deep support development and research network. The network will focus on the challenges for providing deep support for students at the following levels:

• individual school;
• schools working in partnership;
• Local Authorities that are working with schools to implement the ECM agenda.

This network will bring together over 100 schools to agree best and next practice at school, local, regional and national levels. Ideas and practice will be disseminated through the Trust's networks and at major events, for example, the national conference. This will enable schools and practitioners to support each other in this challenging work. We will also be setting up think tanks to discuss the concept of the 24/7 school. A number of schools are trying to define what this would look like and how students could be supported in this new world of schooling. Can students achieve success without the security of the boundaries of traditional schooling? What will be the impact on the workforce? What will constitute deep school in this brave new world?

An unlikely scenario of schooling? Just over 50 years ago, girls were typing and boys were doing woodwork. The television was wheeled into your classroom for a half-hour programme. When you went home from school, you were cocooned into the world of the family, with limited communication to friends in their homes. Today, we can communicate to friends on the other side of the world. Our news is delivered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Why shouldn't our education be, too? In 1995, Peter Drucker wrote:

'It is a safe prediction that in the next 50 years schools and universities will change more and more drastically than they have since they assumed their present form more than 300 years ago.'

 

Ms Sue Williamson is Director, Leadership and Affiliation Network, for the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, in London, UK.

Join the online discussion on Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 June 2006.