Introduction
Holly Bedford is Assistant Principal at Marling School, a grammar school for boys with a coeducational sixth form based in Gloucestershire. Holly is responsible for teaching, learning, and professional development throughout the school.
Marling School has recently trained some staff in Pedagogical Coaching and, due to its success, is now rolling this out across the school.
What was the challenge?
As Holly took on the role, she recognised that to improve teaching and learning across the school, they needed to further develop a culture of talking about teaching and learning. This open-door culture involved learning from one another.
CPD was viewed by some as an external course you completed. Holly wanted to ensure that CPD was instead embedded as a culture of staff wanting to talk to one another, have meaningful conversations about their pedagogy and increase the interest in research and inquiry. The school saw the power in helping staff develop their practice through conversation, reflection and collaboration.
What did we do?
Holly knew she wanted the school to engage in coaching, so she undertook comparison work with coaching providers and researched different coaching models, including the possibility of building their own. TDT was recommended, and Holly was able to visit another school that had implemented pedagogical coaching successfully.
During this visit, Holly learned how it was rolled out and the practical stages the school had to go through, including the lessons they learned. This supported Holly in her decision to use TDT. What appealed most to Holly was the ability to personalise the coaching approach to their context and its people.
With the support of TDT, Holly was able to tap into a network of schools, enabling her to find out how other schools had implemented coaching and the impact it had on teachers and pupils. Holly and the team really appreciated the thorough training they received from us and how this was balanced with them being able to put it into practice in a way that works best for them.
What’s working well?
At Marling School, TDT’s Pedagogical Coaching programme is facilitating a significant cultural shift, transitioning from course-based CPD to a more collaborative, research-driven environment.
Alongside TDT, they were able to personalise their coaching approach, resulting in staff adopting active listening and reflective practices. This is empowering teachers, improving ECT support, and generating school-wide enthusiasm for further coaching implementation.
What has been the impact so far?
Although the implementation of Pedagogical Coaching is still in its early days for Marling School, Holly and the staff have already noticed differences in the way they work with one another. Holly recognised how it has supported her work with ECTs, particularly within the feedback sessions.
Staff have identified that they actively listen to one another more, and rather than offer solutions, support each other to identify how to overcome challenges themselves – making them more empowered and confident in their abilities. The scaffolding provided as part of the Pedagogical Coaching approach has enabled the school to set up a structure where meaningful conversations about their teaching can take place, are fostered and appreciated.
It has enabled teachers to be more reflective in their practice and share their thinking more readily with one another. The whole school Diagnostic Review, undertaken after coaching was rolled out, found evidence that it had increased the level of professional dialogue, problem-solving and peer support among those staff members that had engaged. This impact has been realised across the school and now other staff members are keen to be on board in the next wave of implementation.
‘I think before we’d be quick to offer solutions, whereas now we listen a lot more actively’
