A Headteacher’s Journey: Transforming School Culture with Coachinginschools

So in terms of what difference it’s made to me…

I think what coaching has done – and particularly this model of coaching – is it’s helped to keep me solution-focused, and therefore keep the staff that I’m working with solution-focused. And breaking down those sort of problems, and goals into a step at a time.

I think sometimes what we’ve done in the past is, we’ve seen things as being this huge ambition, and everybody’s working really hard towards it. And then other things, (as I think other people have said), take over and get in the way, and we don’t quite get there, or it just becomes such a big thing that people can’t see their way through. It’s like, you know, the sort of ‘wading through treacle’ thing, but the system has really helped all of us to say, “Okay, let’s break it down into what’s the first step towards this next thing?”

So even when we’re not actually doing the coaching cycle, a lot of the principles apply to so many other aspects of the work within school.

Personally, it’s helped me to think in a more clear and structured way, and I think that’s, that’s been really helpful.

So somehow, that’s sort of going off in your head all the time, isn’t it? “Okay, so what’s the plan? What are the different ways that I can do this?” So it’s almost like, I think, as Debbie was saying earlier, that you’re going through that plan in your own head for so many different things, which helps with that structured thinking.

And then I think the other thing that, that other people have said is about the seven key features, and that’s been a really helpful approach, in terms of getting staff to think about those main areas for improvement.

So whatever it is that we’re looking at, what’s going to make the real difference here? What do we really want to look at to make those areas improve? Rather than, again, seeing it as this huge, nebulous, enormous thing. What aspects of that have we got, and which aspects do we need to work on? It creates such a clear plan in people’s heads as to where to go next.

Mm-Hmm, <affirmative>.

So the next bit, how have I used these skills in my role?

I coached a subject leader who was an excellent teacher. And she had gone through the ranks in school, through second in department, into head of department, with lots of enthusiasm, lots of ideas, and as I said, an excellent classroom teacher. Essentially, she’s now decided that she’s not a leader and she doesn’t want to be a manager of a department.

And it helped her to at least feel that she was achieving something because I think she’d got to the point where she was feeling she was having no impact, and wasn’t able to do anything effectively. I’ve used the techniques in all sorts of meetings, with students, staff, and parents. So some of those difficult meetings with parents, it’s been really helpful to just ask the questions, (rather than the ‘telling’), which elicts a sort of response, which then helps them to start to deal with the issues at home. The students as well – in terms of reintegration meetings. We’ve started to use some of the principles for students coming back into school, to get them to really reflect on their own behaviours, and how they are going to make those changes. Because I think in the past, and this still happens a lot in school, it’s about staff telling them what they’re going to do differently so that they then are different, which doesn’t work, because they don’t really change as a result of that.

And then one of the ones that’s been been HUGE has been a Year 11 boy. 

So we sit around, as most schools do, every week, and talk about some of our Year 11 students, and where are they in progress, and so on. And one boy, everybody was sort of throwing their hands up in the air. He was a ‘managed move’ from another school during Year 10. So it comes with all sorts of history, but he’s very bright. And, you know, one of those where you’re sort of heart bleeds, because he’s going to end up with a set of results that are well below his capabilities, and it’s going to look awful. And actually, there’s a really nice and good side to him, but he gets it wrong so much. And everybody was throwing their hands up and saying, “What, what are we going to do?”

And I sat there, as you do in those meetings, thinking, “Okay, everybody else has given up with this poor boy, so somebody’s got to do something!” So, I said, “Okay, I’ll give it a go!” And I have used, and I’ve been really rigorous about this, because people now think of me as his mentor. So they keep sending me emails saying, “His behaviour, he’s been throwing stones of pigeons, he’s been doing this, deal with that.” And I keep saying, “No, I’m not doing that”, you know, “That’s a different process. What I’m doing is helping him to focus on what he wants in order to make a difference to his progress and his achievement.” And it would be really easy for me to go in and say, “You need to spend lots of time in art and do more artwork.” But actually he’s, through the process, decided he wants to work on maths, which is actually one of his stronger areas.

So that’s a step in the right direction.

So, I just want to read you his email.

So this was Friday. And this is, I’d just had this meeting, with this young man, and he then sent me this email in the evening…

“Hi Sir, I have completed two quizzes on two videos I have watched on a website called Just Maths. The videos covered things like probability and fractions. I feel better about getting it done straight away, and I look forward to talking to you about it at our next meeting.”

And that was five o’clock on Friday! – The very specific time that he was supposed to have emailed me to let me know how it was going.

So I mean, that’s just, that’s magic really.

And he is turning up every meeting, and he’s getting there on time, and I’m not having to chase him. And he’s getting something out of it, and it’s making a huge difference.

And actually, also through that process, a lot of things are coming out from him that otherwise people wouldn’t know.

So that’s exactly where the coaching works.

So, I’ve said to him, “I have aspirations for you. Your parents have aspirations for you, and I could impose them on you, but actually it’s got to be about you. It’s got to be about your aspirations. What do you want? Do you want these grades that we’re looking at here? Or do you want different grades? And what is that going to mean for you in the future?

And him taking that on board, is making a real difference.

Changes to my practice as a result of learning to coach.

I’ve tried to throw the monkeys back much more.

And you recognise, don’t you, more, I think I recognise more that people are trying to load those monkeys onto me, and they’re coming in with the problems.

I think I’ve adjusted my attitude as well to my role.

And, I think through this, rather than letting those problems and those issues bog me down, and become quite personal, and feeling about them, I’m now seeing them as, “It’s a task, you know, there’s an issue, there’s going to be a plan, and there will be some sort of solution along the way. So much more task-focused in getting those things done.

And I think, you know, as I was saying before, that those approaches have really been built into all of our meetings. A lot of the, the terminology, the words, the, the ideas, the listening, the questioning – it’s coming through in those meetings,

What difference has the coaching made to colleagues, learners, and so on?

Well, I’ve given some examples.

I think I’ve tended to stop telling people what to do. I think we’ve all found that that’s been one of the outcomes. And stopped offering ideas that inevitably fail and that they don’t take on. I’m asking more questions, eliciting their responses to the issues.

And I think that’s really true in school, you know.

The main thing that people get most anxious about all of the time, I think is behaviour. And they come and say, you know, it’s offloading, isn’t it? “The behaviour of these children, the behaviour of this year group, the behaviour in these classrooms…” Offloading those things. And it’s been really helpful to say, “Okay, heard what you’re saying. Now, who’s going to do something about that? What are they going to do? What’s the plan? What are the next steps?” And also getting that sense of, we’re not going to solve that completely overnight, but we can make some steps towards the final solution.

I think before the coaching, there was a lot of lamenting of issues and rehearsing of problems. My SLT know now, you know, please don’t come to the meeting to give me lots of anecdotes, and let’s rehearse all the things that we already know about! Let’s again, be solution-focused, focusing on those actions.

And in a nutshell, I think the programme has led to more effective, proactive, and solution-focused approaches, with clear impact.