Dr Jan Robertson is the Director of the London Centre for Leadership in Learning at the Institute of Education, London University. Jan’s teaching and research has focused particularly on learning relationships through coaching leadership and international aspects of leadership development.
She has travelled and studied extensively in the USA and worked with the National College for School Leadership in England. She has been the director of many major professional development and research projects with the Ministry of Education in New Zealand. Jan was formerly a school principal and Chairperson of Department in the School of Education at the University of Waikato.
A number of Jan Robertson’s comments link to the earlier article reflecting on coaching, by Mike Sutton.
When I was a school principal I became personally aware of some key factors that influenced my later academic research on coaching leadership development:
I loved being a school principal. It was the epitome of all I had hoped for in my career - a real opportunity to work with others to put into practice all the values and beliefs about how children achieve most effectively. The most fulfilling, responsible and challenging role I had as yet undertaken . . . with little consistent, coherent leadership development or preparation. Times have changed since that time 20 years ago - or have they?
Since that time I have worked with thousands of leaders in over a dozen countries, coaching educational leadership, through workshops, keynotes, school-based residentials, academic teaching and research, developing and researching a model of leadership development that will support and challenge educators to continue their growth towards providing better leadership and learning opportunities for adults and young people.
The model of coaching educational leadership that many school leaders have worked with me to develop over the years has some key principles that Mike Sutton’s case study highlights effectively. This model is about an ongoing learning relationship that is built upon the concept of ‘partnership'. The coach is a learner, not an expert or adviser, in this model and this has particular implications for ways of working, ways of 'being' in the relationship, and therefore, too, implications for the desired outcomes of the people one works with - whether children or adults.
My research and development over the past two decades has revealed these 10 principles around coaching educational leadership. I am going to use these principles as a framework to discuss Mike’s reflective case study. They are not in any particular order but all are important aspects of a school culture and professional practice where coaching is the philosophy around which people carry out their work.
Mike ended his reflection with the words 'Take the risk, plan a process and remove the classroom walls that are barriers to teacher learning. Enjoy coaching.' In his school Mike took an informed, guided and supervised risk as he set out to establish coaching as a practice throughout the school. He modelled this willingness to try out new ideas; he encouraged teachers to try out new ideas. There was a sharing of successes and failures - or things that did not work as effectively as one might have expected - between professionals on a learning journey together as they strived to improve student achievement in the school.
Their actions were informed by past reflection, evidence and decision making, and the extent to which these actions met the intended outcomes or goals was then subject to further scrutiny and reflection. This reflection then informed future actions, and so developed a cycle of reflection and action, as in action research, with the coach acting as the challenging friend. The challenge aspect of coaching leadership practice provides the opportunities and structures that will move people beyond self, out of comfort zones, to enable different perspectives and methodologies to confront existing ways of knowing. This was summed up by Diana, who said 'being involved in coaching has definitely lifted my game and increased my professionalism'.
Teachers, such as typified by Diana’s quote, were seen taking responsibility for the quality of their own work. They became critically reflective about their work, regularly assessed their own practice and sought descriptive feedback, and actively identified their areas of strength and areas for development. They did not need to have someone else telling them what to do or how to do it and checking up on whether they had done it well.
This is because giving responsibility to others goes hand in hand with being able to trust that they can and will do the job effectively. Trust develops from trustworthy, respectful leadership behaviour, such as Mike modelled, which allowed the teachers to assist in the design of the coaching model and to begin to see their own potential as expert teachers and then effective coaches with their colleagues.
Interestingly, the teachers chose to use only descriptive rather than evaluative feedback in their coaching processes. Joyce and Showers (1996) also support the belief that assessment or evaluation of teachers is not essential to effect changes in practice, and can even work against teachers being open to change.
Evaluative feedback, if it is used, needs to be conducted with skill and expertise, leaving responsibility with the learner for the self-assessment against goals set (Robertson, 2005). Mistrust and checking up on people, or monitoring people and telling them what to do, simply creates a culture of dependency and lethargy. Effective coaching is not based on a deficit model of trying to 'fix' teachers or leaders.
This principle becomes evidenced in schools when teachers can be seen 'problematising' their practice as they did in Mike’s school. The teachers will be the ones asking questions about the problems they encounter during their practice. They will be engaging in problem solving, not as a mere reacting to the day-to-day minutiae of their practice, but as a proactive search for continual improvement through a problem-posing process. Mike said, 'Coaching is now part of all the professional learning that we do in the school as all staff strive to change pedagogical practice.'
They began asking such questions as:
Through this process, Mike’s teachers then created and shared new knowledge as part of their daily work.
When there is evidence of reciprocal learning between teachers, between teachers and students and between school and community, in coaching educational leadership there is real hope for improved practice.
Coaches who engage in shared learning will be actively listening more than talking. Coaching is a different way of being. Coaches' focus will be on developing their awareness - of a colleague’s practice, of purposes and of outcomes. Leaders, as Mike stated, begin to 'move from what was informal discussion to a structure including setting the issue to be the focus of our next meeting'.
Teachers who share understanding know why they are doing what they are doing and the intended impact on student achievement. Moreover, they are able to articulate and justify their practice, as they have many opportunities to do so in this context of inquiry within the coaching relationship. They will first listen to learn about what others are sharing with them, they will suspend judgement, and only then, in full understanding and with invitation, will they share their own ideas.
As Mike said, 'The art of active listening has continued to develop and has helped form a trust relationship with each colleague which has become the basis of the coaching partnership.' With this principle in place, teachers and students will at times be teaching, at times be learning, at times be leading and at other times be following, in the pursuit of successful learning.
If people in a professional learning community are supporting one another they will be acknowledging one another. They will see the person within the professional, and the person within the student. They will care about, and for, the wellness of colleagues and students. They will be aware of others’ dreams, goals and aspirations. When this principle is evident, leadership practice will include the provision of resources, including time, and efforts to protect what is important.
Such practice will mean showing overt commitment to the initiatives and leadership endeavours of others, by attending the meetings other leaders organise, reviewing policies and practices that may hinder development, and being willing to listen and to learn about what helps or hinders others in achieving their goals. Support is also about having some fun and laughter and a general feeling of collegiality and friendship in the workplace.
Supportive people know the importance of renewal, revitalisation and balance between their personal and professional lives. Mike knew that 'to be successful in embedding change you have to be patient and support teachers, and what better support than other colleagues?'
When you go into Mike’s staffroom or professional development meetings, it is hard to distinguish who is the principal and who is the expert in the development taking place. As Diana said, they now had 'an ever increasing circle of colleagues to share ideas and reflect with'. Mike has always been committed to developing the capacity of others around him.
The third year teacher coaches the deputy principal. Remember this is a partnership, a non-hierarchical model. Teachers in this learning community are also committed to building capacity in others, but they know too that this process starts with oneself. Intellectual capacity is not sufficient - social, emotional, physical, spiritual and cultural capacities are necessary as well. The job of leadership (in which I include teaching) is too big a responsibility to do alone - interdependence is more important than independence, and synergy is developed through working with and through others. Mike said, 'By far the most exciting thing that I have done in my long period in education was to introduce and research peer coaching to my school.'
Principled leaders look for opportunities to develop others, to give others opportunities to lead and take responsibility, and to build a group of people around them who are committed to building and working towards the shared vision. Teachers are then led by a shared vision, not by people in positions of responsibility.
The comments from the teachers in Mike’s school demonstrate an empowerment around the process as they seek to improve their pedagogy. 'I have been observed many times (as a student/beginning teacher) but I felt for the first time that the focus was really on me and that was great' and 'When are the rest of the staff going to get this opportunity because it's changing my teaching so much?' are comments indicative of empowered teachers. As such, when leaders leave, the capacity of the institution to support the vision and the journey towards it is sustained.
For teachers focused on quality pedagogy and improved student achievement, only the best will do. Mike’s school has the individual student as its number one priority and the starting point for decision making. Teachers therefore will be seen focusing on student achievement - on all students and all their achievements.
'Over the past five years we have increased student achievement by over 20% with the 2007 results showing that 85% of Year 6 students are reading at or above their chronological age.'
These teachers will consistently struggle with (ie discuss, reflect on and seek solutions to) the dilemmas and tensions they face in reaching students who are more difficult to reach and in this case are in the 15% of students yet still to reach. They became 'investors in the school not mere tenants' and their enjoyment of teaching increased.
Innovation is about new ways of thinking and being, and people in learning communities are open to new ideas - in fact, they seek them out. The teachers in Mike’s school gave up their lunch hours to discuss research articles together and the implications of this research for their teaching and the school. 'We had changed to whole school development.' There was the expectation that this is part of the culture and this is 'the way that we work' - coaching built into staff meetings, professional development opportunities and government development contracts such as literacy and numeracy projects.
Teachers who are transformational can show evidence of improvement and hence their progress towards the vision.
Effective critical reflection requires skill, the systematic development of which requires time structured into the day. Critical reflection focuses on policies, values, beliefs and principles. It helps to lessen the gap between what we think we do, or would like to do, and what we actually do in our practice.
Teachers who are critical thinkers will be seen practising double-loop learning. Rather than just thinking about whether something is effective, they will be questioning why something is done in the first place and what values and principles it is founded upon. They will want to know, for example, why one aspect of curriculum is included and another is not. They will ask what perspective something is written from and on what evidence. They will think about the essence of the curriculum and the intended skills and qualities, not just the content. And they will seek the help of others to aid their reflection by providing outside perspectives and feedback on it.
Mike worked with each teacher to develop narratives of their teaching practice, their values and beliefs that underpinned their teaching, and these stories were then used as a baseline in comparing espoused theories versus theories in action. Mike began talent spotting for the expert pedagogues and has 'unleashed the expertise' and brought it out from behind closed doors.
I said these principles were not in any particular order, but last, and possibly most important to the concept of principled leadership, is belief and being positive. Mike unerringly believed that the teachers could improve their teaching and that the students could all improve their achievement. This is the belief in one’s own ability to do the work and to make a difference to the quality of learning in an institution. Just as self-esteem is highly important in developing students’ ability to learn, self-belief, or efficacy, is highly important in facilitating adults’ effective learning and practice. Equally important is a belief in others: principled leaders see people as 'a glass half full' rather than half empty (as in lacking, lazy, not committed, unprofessional).
Mike always believed sincerely that the teachers he worked with had the ability and the potential to change, that they were part of the solution not the problem and that, in the right conditions and environment, they would want to change . . . and they did change. Teachers who were ready to leave teaching became revitalised; teachers developed and left the school to move into promotions; the teachers genuinely owned the vision that all children would learn, and knew that Mike was authentic in his desire to make sure that every student received the very best opportunity to achieve success in his school.
The process takes time. Deep change takes time. Mike started with his own development, gathering confidence in the practice and theory of coaching, modelling that he was authentic in his belief that coaching was important. Mike has worked at the development of a coaching school culture over five years. He started small - with four keen, volunteer, expert teachers with whom he developed 'core coaching skills' and ensured that the coaching development was 'done with them and not to them'. He started and it took on a life of its own, as Mike describes: 'far beyond what I ever imagined'.
Joyce, B, and Showers, B, The Evolution of Peer Coaching. Educational Leadership, 53 (6), 1996, pp12-16.
Robertson, Jan, Coaching Educational Leadership: Building Leadership Capacity through Partnership, London: Sage, 2008.
For more information please email Jan Robertson.
In association with Education Scotland