University of California, Santa Cruz

Gary Bloom, Associate Director, New Teacher Center

Contents:

• Background
• Defining coaching and mentoring
• Coaching and mentoring steps

Background

Gary Bloom currently serves as Associate Director of the New Teacher Center at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Gary is an experienced educator, having served in positions from teacher to superintendent of the Aromas-San Juan Unified School District. He teaches on university graduate programmes and has consulted and presented on a variety of topics throughout the United States and in Latin America. Currently, he is supporting a number of urban school districts and states in designing and implementing coaching-based leadership induction programmes, and in increasing the capacity of principals to serve as instructional leaders. He has published widely on educational leadership, teacher leadership, professional learning communities, new teacher support, principal induction, teacher supervision and the appropriate use of technology.

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Defining coaching and mentoring

The words 'coaching' and 'mentoring' are used to describe all kinds of activities in this day and age. Google the word 'coaching' and you will get about 80 million hits and dozens of sponsored links for companies like finishrich.com and actualizedliving.com. People calling themselves 'life coaches' will gladly take your money, promising to 'increase your satisfaction in every aspect of your life'. At their worst, coaching and mentoring can be a guise for fuzzy and even exploitative practices. At their best, coaching and mentoring can be powerful foundations for individual development and organisational culture.

Legitimate coaching and mentoring in the education world fall along a broad scale of intensity and rigour. From the veteran teacher informally mentoring the novice in the classroom next door, to the professional leadership coach working with the head, a number of common characteristics should be evident in the coaching/mentoring relationship:

• It is a voluntary, trusting relationship for both parties.
• The coach or mentor is an asset by virtue of his or her status as a 'different observer'.
• The goal is to build the coachee’s professional capacity and efficacy.
• The coach or mentor is a strong listener and questioner, stimulating reflection on the part of the coachee.
• The coach or mentor provides the coachee with non-judgemental feedback.

These characteristics are but the basics of coaching and mentoring. What I would like to suggest here are some of the steps that can be taken to move coaching and mentoring to higher levels of rigour and impact.

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Coaching and mentoring steps:

Coaches should observe their coachees doing real work

If coaches rely on meetings with their coachees as their only source of data regarding the coachee’s performance, they are working from a very narrow perspective. Coaches should observe their coachees carrying out important job responsibilities, whether it be teaching classes, conferencing with parents, or running meetings. 

Coaches should use multiple sources of data as they provide feedback to their coachees

Two sources of data are the coach’s observations and his or her conversations with the coachee. Others might be student test scores, 360° survey results about a head’s performance, or a supervisor’s performance evaluation. 

Coaches should work with their coachees to identify opportunities for system improvements

It is easy to spend coaching time talking about whatever problem or issue might be on the coachee’s mind at that moment, and to focus upon immediate presenting problems rather than upon systemic causes. Powerful coaches push their coachees to look behind immediate symptoms for systemic causes, and to identify and implement systemic solutions. For example, a head or teacher might be concerned about the behaviour of a particular pupil. A superficial approach to the problem might result in a conference with and reprimand to the student. A systemic approach might uncover a need for an instructional programme more attuned to that student’s needs. Effective coaches help their coachees to peel the onion back to core institutional issues.

Coaches should be prepared to engage in transformational coaching  

In our book, 'Blended Coaching: Skills and Strategies to Support Principal Development', we suggest that coaches must be prepared to help their coachees to develop their core beliefs, interpersonal relationships, and emotional intelligence. Transformational coaches ask their coachees to test their stories and interpretations, and to practise new ways of seeing, thinking and acting. Being an effective head or teacher is about more than professional knowledge and skill; it is about who you are as a human being. Effective coaches are alert to these deeper issues and are willing to take them on.

Coaching should be organised around an explicit set of goals

Early in the coaching relationship, powerful coaches work with their coachees to establish a clear set of goals for the coaching process. These goals serve as benchmarks against which the coaching work can be measured, and an ongoing focus for the coaching conversations. Again, coaching should not be about whatever might be today’s problem; it is about sustained and focused professional development.

Coaches must hold their coachees accountable

Coaching makes a difference for coachees because coaches keep track of the commitments made in coaching conversations and hold their coachees accountable for keeping those commitments. Coaching without accountability is just talk.

Coaches must be bold

Not careless, but courageous. It is not easy to challenge a coachee’s interpretations or to give them feedback about their relationship skills or job performance. Coaches typically have only a limited amount of time with their coachees and should not hesitate to quickly get to the hard conversations. Paradoxically, it is often by taking the risk to raise difficult issues that coaches are most likely to build solid trust with their coachees.

Coaches in school settings must remember that their first commitment is to student achievement

We are not in these roles to hold people's hands, to protect their feelings or to ensure that they survive in their jobs. We are there to help our coachees to have a positive impact on teaching, learning, and student welfare. 

At the New Teacher Center, we believe that coaching is a new professional practice requiring high levels of knowledge and skill. Coaches participate in rigorous training, ongoing professional development, and certification. Through this approach we are seeing very promising results for teachers, administrators and students.

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Contact:

For more information please email Gary Bloom (Associate Director, New Teacher Center, University of California, Santa Cruz).