Read any of the literature on how to create a coaching culture in your school and you will be presented with a clear, step-by-step approach – a linear plan for how to accumulate the elements which will render your institution a fully-fledged coaching school.
However, the reality for us at Merchant Taylors’ School was far from linear. This article considers what we set out to achieve, the challenges that cropped up along the way, and how we worked together to overcome them.
The plan
Our vision was to transform the school into a place where being “coach-like” was the default approach to school life. In reaching for this goal over the past five years, we have put the following structures in place:
- All new staff complete a foundation coaching course during induction.
- Pupils are trained in the basics of coaching (such as asking effective questions and how to really listen) during off-timetable days so that they can support one another, connect and be more effective communicators.
- Tutors are trained to have coaching conversations with their tutees. These can be ad hoc, but specific time is set aside during extended tutor periods to allow for meaningful one-to-one coaching following grades and reporting sessions.
- All pupils have a “Self-reflection and coaching” booklet which they complete throughout the year with support and discussion from their tutor. Coaching tools such as fulfilment wheels (see later), habit-forming, time management and accountability worksheets have been adapted for school life.
- The teacher appraisal process is conducted via a series of more formal coach-like discussions. The appraisee is central in identifying the goals and next steps as part of their CPD.
- Lesson observations are followed up with coaching conversations which encourage self-reflection and goal-setting by the teacher observed. All staff are engaged in instructional coaching cycles with a teaching and learning partner to facilitate regular observations.
- Staff can opt to form trios to practise their coaching skills and are protected from cover during this time. Staff report that trios help to improve clarity, forge connections, and improve overall wellbeing.
- Careers staff conduct coach-like discussions exploring pupils’ values and goals when considering career options.
- Pupils can receive a programme of one-to-one coaching sessions to support pastoral and academic needs.
- Parents can attend an in-house “introduction to coaching” course to help them to communicate with and support their children more effectively.
Scepticism and cynicism
When we were first introduced to Quinn Simpson and McKenzie Cerrie, the co-founders of coaching company Graydin, back in 2015 we were struck by the potential scope and impact that coaching could have for our pupils, staff and parents.
We worked closely with Graydin over the next three years training more than 100 members of staff in a two-day foundational course.
Initially, heads of house and other key stakeholders such as our head of careers, the SEND team, school counsellor, and prep school leads were asked to attend the course. Next, heads of department were signed up.
By requiring staff to attend there was of course a percentage who were resistant. However, ensuring we publicly clarified the key aims and direction of our coaching plans was an important step to getting colleagues on board. Making it clear that coaching was here to stay was important, too.
Misconceptions, myths, misunderstandings
One of the most challenging and enduring issues we have faced is staff misunderstanding – particularly at the outset. Below are some of the more common comments we received in the first couple of years:
- I can’t teach by asking pupils what they think the answers are. I need to tell them, so coaching doesn’t work.
- This is dangerous. We are not counsellors, we are teachers. We are not qualified for this.
- If I shouldn’t ask the question “why”, how can I teach science?
- I don’t have time to have coaching conversations in tutor period – there is too much else to do.
- I don’t need coaching myself – I don’t have any issues.
- There is no proof that coaching works.
These kinds of comments reveal a misunderstanding about what coaching is and how it can be helpful in a school context. It became clear that the foundation course was not enough to give staff sufficient grounding.
In response, we adapted our in-house training and spent more time exploring the spectrum of help (the differences between mentoring, counselling, direct instruction, and coaching) and where coaching fits in.
We have emphasised more carefully the fact that coaching is a tool which teachers can pick up and put down as required and when the context is appropriate.
Being clear that coaching is quite often not the appropriate form of help dispelled some misunderstandings and gave staff more confidence to decide for themselves when a coach-like approach to conversations with pupils, parents or colleagues would be beneficial.
In addition, publishing a progress report in 2019 was a great way of establishing what had been achieved and how many staff had been trained. It was an opportunity to share examples from staff about how coaching had been useful. Statements included:
- “In my regular coaching trio, we have been looking at how we want to improve as teachers. Taking time to step back and talk through the fine details of how effective my feedback has actually been, or ways I can use questioning more skilfully, for example, has made me a more effective and efficient teacher.”
- “The connection I’ve made with other staff through two days of coaching has been more effective than 10 years’ worth of organised school events.”
- “Today a boy came to see me who looked absolutely shattered. Consequently, we had a mini-coaching chat which totally changed the direction of what I had planned. In our meeting next week, he’s going to tell me what he's done to try and increase the amount of sleep he gets.”
- “Coaching has given me practical tools to practise compassion (one of the school’s core values) more effectively in my work as a senior leader and a teacher – it's made me a better listener and helped me to understand what's motivating the person I'm with.”
Publicising this kind of soft data was a turning point in staff seeing the benefits and variety of ways in which staff were using coaching effectively in their day-to-day roles.
Inviting, rather than instructing, staff to attend the advanced training course (which was initially two days but has now been trimmed down to one) has done two things: first, it has provided staff with more practice, tools and confidence to be “coach-like”. It has created a desirable difficulty and a status which has been beneficial for staff seeking pastoral advancement.
Second, it has subtly reinforced our unwavering stance – we believe that coaching is infinitely beneficial to our school community and is here to stay.
Systems and structures
There comes a point when you need to ask: how far can you go with coaching without formally embedding coaching in systems and structures of the school? With the senior leadership team behind the plans, it was a case of converting ideas to tangible structures – making coaching visible and concrete within the policies and systems of the school.
Coaching and the PDR process
We happened to be at a point when our PDR (once known as appraisal) process was under review, so it seemed a fitting place to start.
While it could be argued that there can never be a true coaching relationship in what is effectively a performance review meeting, we found that by using coach-like questions to inform the pre-meeting self-review paperwork and by using a coaching framework to conduct the discussion, we were able to encourage staff to create their own goals and areas for development and support them to create next steps to achieve those goals.
Coaching and tutor time
For all pupils, we have developed a pupil self-review and coaching booklet for use in tutor time. It contains a range of coaching and self-reflection exercises. For example, there is a school-focused fulfilment wheel for pupils to complete each term.
Tutors can use the booklet and their own coaching skills to conduct one-to-one conversations with their tutees during termly extended tutor periods (which run from the start of tutor time through to the end of period one).
Self-review: The pupil fulfilment wheel diagram
Coaching in the curriculum
An on-going challenge is to create time to familiarise the pupils themselves with the language and concepts of coaching. Finding space for coaching in the curriculum is a tricky nut to crack, so we have made use of sessions during off-timetable days with a range of year groups to run coaching workshops.
Introducing pupils to concepts such as identifying their values through visualisations, identifying their saboteurs, and inner leaders was well received.
The feedback from the pupils themselves was surprising. I was quite prepared for our year 10 pupils to be slightly dismissive of any activity which requires probing self-reflection, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.
- “This was very helpful. I wish the school did this more often. Helps us think about how to live life that a lesson never could.”
- “It was helpful to learn to visualise scenarios and write down what values are core to your character. A useful exercise not performed often enough.”
Underestimating the pupils’ capacity to engage with these kinds of activities proved to be a serious learning curve for us. Done in the right context, in small groups with staff who are well trained and well respected by the pupils meant that there was so much value gained.
A further surprise was that we anticipated that the younger pupils would be more unguarded and willing to show their vulnerability than the older pupils. However, we felt that our year 10s engaged most successfully with the coaching exercises and it was actually more difficult for year 7 and 8s to reflect on their character and personal goals. Perhaps having a bit more life experience and self-awareness is the key.
Year 8 pupils engaged in a coaching workshop during an off-timetable day
Mandatory coaching training for all new staff
In order to tackle the misconception issue, all new staff are now required to complete the one-day coaching course as part of their induction process before joining the school. This includes teachers from our prep school, so that there is a sense of continuity in the coaching approach across both schools.
Coaching trios and protected time
Once the balance tipped from some staff having been trained to most staff having been trained, we were faced with the challenge following any CPD – how to put the new ideas into practice rather than leaving them as “good ideas to explore when there is time”.
In order for staff to actively practise their coaching skills, we needed to create the space for this. We offered for staff to “opt in” to coaching trios. Staff were invited to select one free period per fortnight during which they would be protected from any meetings, duty or cover. During this time, they met in their agreed trio and practised coaching and giving feedback to one another.
A contact from another school had warned us against mandatory trios or putting staff into threes without their input. We were therefore keen to have staff involvement in creating their trios.
The reality however was that the practical organisation required was eye-wateringly laborious and time-consuming – be warned – but it did mean that our colleagues felt confident and willing to give it a go in their trios.
Parental coaching courses
In writing the first Coaching Development Plan, our hope was that if parents and teachers are using coaching strategies in tandem, we can present a more unified and coherent experience for our pupils.
We have just completed our first Parental Coaching Course – a series of three, two-hourly evening sessions and now plan to develop this to become a regular termly offering.
When both schools and parents work together, we can do so much more to support young people to become independent, accountable and confident learners.
- Laura Smith is director of teaching and learning at Merchant Taylors’ School in Middlesex.