High quality coaching

There is a large amount of research and debate around mentoring and coaching and what their differences are. What educational research shows is that both are invaluable both for developing one’s own practice, as well as developing in one’s career.

So which programme is right for your school? The answer to this question partly depends on your needs and the teachers you are working with currently. While coaches and mentors have very different roles, both can have an interesting impact for your school CPD.

Guardian Article: Coaching v Mentoring: What works best for teachers?

Mentoring

Blog, Sarah Coskeran: Effective teacher mentoring

SecEd article: What makes a good mentor/mentee? – advice from a T&L coordinator

Coaching

Coaching is exceptionally powerful for developing practice. It shouldn’t be seen as something for beginning teachers, but as something valuable for everybody developing their practice. We recommend ensuring high quality training for coaches, to ensure that any coaching is as powerful as possible.

External resources to give some context to coaching

Introduction to, planning and evaluating Coaching – excellent free resources from the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership

Clutterbuck D. (2003) ‘Creating a coaching climate’ advice from The Coaching and Mentoring Network Ltdtrust.org

Heemsbergen, B. (2000) ‘Coaching from the Inside Out: Creating Exceptional Results’ six tips on how to be a great coach

Neufeld B. and Roper, D. (2003) ‘Coaching: a strategy for developing instructional capacity’ slightly longer article with very practical answers to common questions