To what extent are the staff within your institution willing and able to find their own solutions, when things are not going well?
Julian Rotter (1954) came up with the idea of ‘locus of control’. In very simple terms, this is concerned with an individual’s perception of the main causes of events in life. Somebody with an ‘external locus of control’ will feel that their behaviour is guided by fate and luck or other external circumstances. What happens to them is beyond their control. On the other hand, somebody with an ‘internal locus of control’ will feel that their behaviour is guided by personal decisions and efforts. They are respon- sible for what happens in their life, and so their actions have a direct effect on their future. A teacher with an external locus of control may view the behaviour of the stu- dents as nothing to do with himself or herself – it is all to do with other factors – so there is no need to do anything differently as it will have no effect on the students’ behaviour. Following a bad lesson, this teacher may blame the students, the weather, the fact that the bulb on the overhead projector went, the previous lesson that the students had – in fact, anything but themselves. On the other hand, the teacher with an internal locus of control will view the situation differently. Their thought process, following a bad lesson, would be more along the lines of: That didn’t go too well – what did I do that didn’t work? What could I do next time to make it better? Coaching can help colleagues to see the link between their actions – in terms of relationships with students, teaching strategies, body language – and the learning, engagement and progress of students. This awareness will then start to shift them from an external to an internal locus of control.
Having introduced coaching, we examined the advantages of having a staff with an internal locus of control achieved through coaching. Following the initial introduc- tion of coaching we had about a dozen coaching pairs set up. After these pairs had been through a coaching cycle, we asked the coachees if they could very simply jot down their thoughts about the process.
This provided us with evidence of the following traits that were developing amongst staff who had been involved in the coaching process:
• Self-sufficiency Staff who can solve their own problems become far more self- sufficient. This is an effective way of working. Instead of problems lingering, becoming worse and then having a bigger negative impact on the students’ learning, simply because they are not dealt with (because nobody knows how to), they can be dealt with and addressed quickly and effectively. This minimises the impact that issues have on the learning of the students.
‘The coach I worked with was really supportive. They helped me to work through the issue myself and find a solution. And it worked! As a result, I felt more confident to tackle issues on my own. Really good, thanks very much!’ (Maths teacher, five
years’ experience)
• Self-esteem Staff who feel that they are listened to, but who can deal with their own issues, feel confident. Good teaching and learning is all about confi- dence. Furthermore, the more confident staff feel, the better equipped they will be to support and develop their peers.
‘The best CPD I have had in the last three years. Brilliant!’ (German teacher, three
years’ experience)
• Efficiency Working in this way enables individuals, groups and the whole school to get to the nub of the problem quickly, to deal with it and move on. The
WHY COACHING?
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process enables staff to avoid getting distracted by other things that have nothing to do with the real issue – which often wastes a great deal of time in school meet- ings. However, for this to happen, there needs to be a no-blame culture through- out the school so that people feel safe about discussing the issues they may have.
‘I took the ideas on board that I discussed with my coach, used them with my classes and as a result felt more confident, organised and generally happier about how the first meetings with my classes went. It has had a knock on effect throughout the year with most of my classes’. (Science teacher, three years’ experience)
• Team work Coaching helps to foster a great team spirit. Why? Because you don’t have to be an expert in the issue to coach somebody to help them resolve the issue. This means that everybody has something to offer and so everyone feels valued. Imagine working in a school like that!
‘Great to see the issue from another angle and come up with a solution … together’.
(Science teacher, two years’ experience)
• A dialogue about pedagogy Experience has shown us that as a school goes down the path of coaching, teachers within the school begin to have more of an open dialogue about pedagogy. This is when coaching becomes highly effective. This process of reflecting on the coaching that had taken place was encouraging as it confirmed what we thought – that coaching has the potential to help support and develop the teaching staff. Although we did note that some of the conversations had perhaps involved mentoring as some coaches had offered their ideas. We say ‘poten- tial’ because, although we knew that the staff had enjoyed being coached and that their perception of the process was that it was useful, we had not yet measured its impact. Had the coaching really had a significant impact on the learning of the stu- dents? This is a topic that we deal with in a later chapter. Nonetheless, if any whole school initiative is to succeed, it needs to have the support and affirmation of the staff.