Mā te kimi ka kite, mā te kite ka mōhio, mā te mōhio ka mārama
Seek and discover. Discover and know. Know and become enlightened
Module Objectives:
- Articulate a clear understanding of coaching principles and their application within an educational leadership context.
- Develop and apply a range of effective coaching models and techniques to support the growth and development of individuals and teams.
- Cultivate strong coaching relationships built on trust, respect, and a focus on individual strengths and goals.
- Utilise powerful questioning and active listening skills to facilitate self-reflection and ownership of development.
- Provide constructive feedback and support accountability to enhance performance and foster a culture of continuous improvement.
Learning Material:
As Deputy and Associate Principals, you are in a prime position to foster a coaching culture within your kura. This module will start to equip you with the knowledge and skills to lead through coaching, empowering your colleagues to reach their full potential.
Understanding the Coaching Approach:
Coaching in an educational setting goes beyond mentoring or directing. It is a collaborative process focused on:
- Empowering Ownership: Facilitating individuals to identify their own goals, solutions, and pathways for development.
- Focusing on Potential: Believing in the capacity of others to grow and achieve their best.
- Promoting Self-Reflection: Guiding individuals to critically examine their practice and identify areas for growth.
- Supporting Action and Accountability: Helping individuals translate insights into concrete actions and take responsibility for their progress.
- Building Capacity: Developing the skills and confidence of others to become more effective in their roles.
Key Coaching Skills and Models:
Effective coaching requires a specific skillset and often draws upon established models. Key elements include:
- Active Listening: Paying full attention, seeking to understand perspectives, and reflecting back what you hear.
- Powerful Questioning: Asking open-ended questions that encourage deep thinking and self-discovery.
- Goal Setting: Collaboratively establishing clear, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals.
- Providing Feedback: Offering constructive and timely feedback that is both supportive and challenging.
- Building Rapport and Trust: Creating a safe and supportive environment where individuals feel comfortable exploring their challenges and aspirations.
- Coaching Models: Familiarity with models like GROW (Goal, Reality, Options, Way Forward) or TGROW (Topic, Goal, Reality, Options, Way Forward) can provide a structured framework for coaching conversations.
Applying Coaching in Your Role:
As a Deputy Principal, you can integrate coaching into various aspects of your leadership:
- Supporting Teacher Development: Coaching teachers to enhance their pedagogical practices, classroom management, and leadership skills.
- Mentoring Emerging Leaders: Guiding and supporting staff members taking on new leadership responsibilities.
- Facilitating Team Growth: Coaching teams to improve collaboration, communication, and problem-solving.
- Having Difficult Conversations: Using a coaching approach to navigate challenging conversations in a way that fosters learning and growth.
- Promoting a Coaching Culture: Modelling coaching behaviours and encouraging others to adopt a coaching mindset.
Resources:
Introduction to Coaching in Education:
- Growth Coaching International – offers articles and resources on coaching in schools: https://growthcoaching.com.au/resources/
Developing Coaching Skills:
- Michael Bungay Stainer – Has written two excellent and easy to digest books if this is an area of interest for you. For now, have a look at his TED Talk, “How to Tame Your Advice Monster” https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_bungay_stanier_how_to_tame_your_advice_monster_feb_2025?language=en and this article (there are more if you are interested) on his Box of Crayons website – https://boxofcrayons.com/resources/how-to-be-coach-like-at-work/
- Explore the Instructional Coaching resources most relevant to you – https://www.instructionalcoaching.com/resources/
Task: Practicing Coaching Questions:
Reflect on a recent interaction you had with a colleague where you could have used a coaching approach. Identify 2-3 powerful coaching questions you could have asked to encourage deeper reflection and ownership of the situation.
Post your chosen questions and a brief explanation of why you selected them and the potential outcomes you anticipated on the forum (150 words maximum).
Extra practice! Comment on someone else’s post with a coaching question to make them think.
Assessment:
- Completion of all readings.
- Participation in the online forum discussion.
- Reflective post on forum
4 Responses
We currently have a difficult working environment in our kura which often leads people to bring their problems/issues to me. In the past I have been quick to save or try to rescue people due to the working environment and not wanting to add more stress to their already full plate.
During a recent conversation with a colleague regarding a child with difficult behaviour I was quick to jump in with solutions, offers of support and a multitude of ideas to try rather than supporting them to come to conclusions themselves.
I could instead have used a coaching approach asking questions like:
– What do you believe is the real challenge here for you? And what else?
– What would success look like in this situation?
– If you could try anything, without constraints, what would you do?
I believe these questions would have led to the teacher having more ownership of the plan, they would feel empowered moving forward and would be confident in using their own ideas rather than searching for my opinions or advice.
As the Learning Support Coordinator for the senior school, I’ve been actively supporting a senior school team leader who often struggles to separate personal and professional opinions, becoming emotional and overwhelmed by minor issues. They also seek constant reassurance and praise. I’ve realized my previous approach of jumping in with solutions for behaviour management was an error, inadvertently hindering their progress and confidence in decision-making. I’ve now identified the critical need to coach them through situations rather than simply providing answers. This shift is vital.
In a recent high-stakes scenario involving a volatile student nearing suspension due to maximum stand-down days, I could have used a coaching approach.
I would have focused on questions like:
– Given the student’s history and the potential for suspension, what specific outcomes are you hoping to achieve for both the student and the school in the short term?
– Considering your previous experiences with this student, what approaches have you found most effective, or least effective, in de-escalating situations or managing their behaviour?
– What resources, both internal and external, could you explore to better support this student and your team moving forward?
I have often used a set of questions for myself, teams of teachers, whole staff and more recently with a beginning teacher that I mentor. They acknowledge the positives, identify weaknesses and support the creation of goals to change practice. These were first introduced to me as a way of reflecting on annual appraisal goals, however I have used them in a coaching environment where it encourages the teacher to self-reflect and not just be told what to do to improve. The last question also gives guidance for the coach on how they can help.
What’s going well?
What’s not going well?
How can I/we change what’s not going well?
With my coaching and mentoring lens on with my Kaiako Matua -at the start of the year we create purposeful time to share, collaborate and and connect on their priorities or focus for the year that reflect our values of tika, manaaki and whanaungatanga.
A lot of my leaders have chosen task oriented goals as their (PDA) Professional development Appraisal due to the ever changing landscape of secondary curriculum to get a sense of achievement.
He pātai I led:
What would give you the most sense of achievement in your role this year?
What are the challenges for you to achieve this?
How can I help you?