How can coaching mean more to
a school than just having the
hard conversation?
Jeremy Beard
Senior Adviser
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
0419 349 934
beard.jeremy.a@edumail.vic.gov.au
Victorian President, Australian Council for Education Leadership
Workshop structure
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What is whole school culture
Key responsibilities of stakeholders
Different interactions in a school
Accountability
Feedback
Protocols
Coaching
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Whole-school culture
• Who or what is the ‘whole-school’? Who are
the key stakeholders
• What is culture?
• What does whole-school culture look like?
3 mins to discuss
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Who are the key stakeholders in a school
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Students
Staff
Parents
Principal / Head
Leadership teams
School council / School board
School council sub-committees
Affiliated organisations
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Culture:
The network of beliefs, attitudes, behaviours
and histories that are prevalent among
communities of people.
http://www.mindmatters.edu.au/verve/_resources/Community_Matters_2012_8_19_section1.pdf
Whole school culture:
That is who we are.
That is what we do
That is how we do it
It can grow an organisation or it can hinder
the growth of an organisation.
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PRE-CONDITIONS FOR
A WHOLE-SCHOOL CULTURE OF
HIGH EXPECTATIONS
Catholic Education Office
2.2 A rigorous and respectful learning culture
Description
A culture of learning refers to the environment within a school, among
students and staff. The Catholic school’s central focus is on the development
of the human person. Its core work is teaching and learning. The school
culture is marked by respectful relationships among teachers and students,
respect for learning, and commitment to social justice. In a school
characterised by a culture of learning, students accept responsibility for
investing high-level energy in their work, and teachers are themselves
learners who demonstrate a passion for student learning. In classrooms and
across the whole school, support for high levels of student effort and
achievement is apparent.
Additionally, a culture of learning is characterised by an environment of
trust and safety. Therefore, an important responsibility of school leaders is
to ensure that students and staff alike are certain that their ideas will be
courteously received, and that ‘errors’ are recognised as opportunities for
learning.
http://web.cecv.catholic.edu.au/publications/leadership/vision.pdf
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A WHOLE-SCHOOL CULTURE OF HIGH
EXPECTATIONS
• CLEARLY ARTICULATED VISION
• CLARITY OF ROLES
• A WHOLE-SCHOOL CULTURE OF
ACCOUNTABILITY
• PROTOCOLS
• A WHOLE-SCHOOL CULTURE OF FEEDBACK
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CLEARLY ARTICULATED VISION
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Developed by community
Clearly defined terms in layman language
Shared by middle management
Regularly articulated by leadership team
Role modelled by principal
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ROLE CLARITY
What are the top role descriptors for each?
What are the big picture reasons for these people
being involved in the school
The recorder is to note 3 roles for the principal, teachers and students – 5 mins
• Principal – eg maximise resources to facilitate teaching
and learning
• Teachers
• Students
• Leadership team
• Parents
• School council
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Who is accountable to who?
Add an arrow ― ↔ ← →
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Principal ― school council/board
Principal ― leadership team
Principal ― Staff
Leadership team ― Staff
Staff ― staff
Staff ― parents
Student ― student
Staff ― student
School council/board ― parents
11
Whole-school culture of
accountability.
What would you see if
ACCOUNTABILITY processes were
working very well,
or
working very poorly
Very Well
Poorly
13
Who should give feedback to who?
Add an arrow ― ↔ ← →
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Principal ― school council/board
Principal ― leadership team
Principal ― Staff
Leadership team ― Staff
Staff ― staff
Staff ― parents
Student ― student
Staff ― student
School council/board ― parents
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Whole-school culture of feedback.
What would you see if it was
working very well,
or
working very poorly
Very Well
Poorly
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PROTOCOLS
Protocols provide a frame work for
coaching within a school.
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Protocols can
• Provide a structure around which to provide
feedback eg Tuning protocol
• Provide an accountability around which to
provide feedback eg Staff code of conduct
• With protocols coaching conversations are
about the issue and are depersonalised
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What are the common values, beliefs, we would like
to see in ACCOUNTABILITY inter actions across the
school?
• Eg collaborates
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What are the common values, beliefs, we would like
to see in FEEDBACK inter actions across the school?
• Eg trust
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There is no point having
accountability without giving
feedback.
It is hard to give valuable feedback
without good feedback processes.
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What feedback processes suit which
interactions, and can you build
coaching into these processes?
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Principal and teachers
Teachers/students
Principal/parents
Teacher/parents
Students/students
Students/teachers
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Who in my school would benefit by
doing parts of this workshop
• Leadership team?
• Staff?
• School council?
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Coaching is an integral part of a
whole-school culture of feedback
Coaching is a necessary
component for a whole-school
culture of high expectations