Gracemount High School

Louise Sinclair, PT Guidance, Gracemeount High School, Edinburgh

Empowering young people to find their own solutions

GHS is a six-year non-denominational, comprehensive school serving the community of South East Edinburgh. The school has 592 students and 57 staff and is a School of Ambition. Louise Sinclair is a Principal Teacher of Guidance who participated in the City of Edinburgh coach development programme and this case study is an account of her coaching work with pupils.

As a Guidance teacher I have responsibility for the pastoral care and well being for 195 pupils and this gives me an opportunity to apply coaching techniques. I have tended to use the GROW (link) model and the Rule of Three (link) but have on occasion encouraged the coachee to transpose (link) themselves into the other chair and 'see it as others see it.' This technique is particularly useful when helping a young person resolve a conflict with another person - often a teacher - and has helped to defuse situations and even to some extent avoid exclusion. 

Individual pupils may come to me of their own free will but I have also identified others requiring support. The issues have been wide and varied, for example, senior pupils considering whether or not to apply to University, or pupils facing personal issues at home or in school. I have arranged to meet some pupils on a weekly basis for a period of time while I have met others only two or three times. 

One pupil I am currently working with is experiencing difficulties in her personal life that are impacting on her schoolwork. Over the last month we have met weekly and she has identified and worked towards agreed goals. She has been pleased to stop me in the corridor and update me on her progress outwith our arranged meeting times.

I have applied coaching techniques when working with a group of Fifth Year Friends who are supporting our S1 pupils in a mentoring role. We have monthly team meetings that seem to be helpful and the youngsters involved are gaining in confidence and becoming more able to take the initiative with their responsibilities.

A colleague is developing and piloting a Personal Life and Employability course for a small group of young people who have been identified as at risk of not entering employment or training. As part of this course the pupils involved will receive regular individual coaching sessions.

I think coaching is a way in which I can enhance the pastoral provision/support I provide for pupils. This type of support is an integral part of the guidance/support teacher’s post but having the coaching training has made me better able to empower the young people to find their own solutions.

A major challenge is finding time and a quiet space in a very busy building. I now have the luxury of an additional non-contact hour but this does not allow me to engage with many for specific coaching. However I feel that my skills have been applied throughout my work. I would hope to have further training in team coaching as I think this would be particularly useful not only when working with staff/department teams but also in classroom and group work situations.

I am still at the infancy stage of coaching and gaining confidence myself but as I progress I would like to share my expertise and encourage other colleagues to adopt these approaches. 

Contact:

For more information please email Louise Sinclair.