Developing a coaching culture at Invicta Grammar School

Carl Taylor, Lead Teacher of Psychology at Invicta Grammar School explains in this blog how coaching was introduced in the school, and why the culture of coaching needs to make its appearance within the education sector.

Establishing a coaching culture

It’s well understood that the best leaders coach their team members, inspiring, challenging and empowering them, whilst also looking out for their wellbeing. Consequently, coaching has been at the forefront of continuous improvement in virtually all top performing organisations for over 20 years. But it is still uncommon in the education sector.

Invicta Grammar School (IGS) was introduced to coaching when a Trustee offered pro-bono coaching to a group of teachers. Two years later, a teacher with coaching experience joined the school and these developments prompted discussions on establishing a coaching culture at IGS. This resulted in the introduction of the school’s ‘Educator as Coach’ programme, which is now in its third year, with the school engaging a coach with extensive experience of the education sector.

The aims of the ‘Educator as Coach’ programme:

• To develop a coaching culture that impacts positively on the leadership, academic and pastoral life of the school.
• To create high-functioning partnerships and opportunities, to collaborate between departments and subject areas.

The approach

As the programme has evolved, two phases have been established.

Phase 1

Following an invitation to all staff, 10 teachers join the programme each year. Phase 1 comprises:

• Six coaching sessions with teachers establishing their unique agendas;
• Six Action Learning Set meetings centred around the theme of collaboration and continuous improvement;
• An end-of-year review with members of the Leadership Group offering an overview of the cohort’s journey, the opportunity to share lessons learnt and the presentation of recommendations.

Phase 2

On completion of phase 1, participants join an ongoing series of Action Learning Sets with members of staff that completed the Educator as Coach programme in previous years. Sets are self-sustaining with members taking turns in facilitating the meetings. The agenda is determined by the group and each year ends with the Leadership Group attending a review with recommendations.

The impact to date

The impact of the programme over the past three years, starting with the impact of the Action Learning Sets, is summarised as follows:

Cohort 1 (2018-2019)

The early adopters set the foundations of trust and innovation that have now become a feature of the programme. In addition to establishing cross-departmental relationships that continue to be called upon whenever there is a perceived benefit in doing so, the group made a proposal to the Leadership Group to revise approaches to regular staff CPD.

Cohort 2 (2019-2020)

This was the group that faced Covid-19 challenges. As the school adopted virtual schooling, members continued to engage in coaching and participate in Action Learning Sets using the same interactive platform that was being used for the teaching of ‘live’ lessons with students. Group members shared best practice and became an effective support and welfare group.

Cohort 3 (2020-21)

Being largely clear of Covid-19 challenges, this cohort is re-engaging in face-to-face coaching and in-person Action Learning Sets. At the time of writing, the group has established a strong foundation for collaboration and innovation. This group comprises a mix of Early Career Teachers and those with five or more years’ experience. This is resulting in explorations of how stability and innovation are best balanced.

Assessing the impact of the programme on individual participants, this is illustrated through a selection of individual comments:

“The coaching and action learning sets gave me time to slow down, breathe and gain clearer perspectives.”

“This was an enriching experience for both me and the team.”

“Working with colleagues with whom I’d had little prior contact was excellent and very beneficial.”

“I now have a much clearer picture of where I can get to and how I can get there.”

“I thought I didn’t have the time for yet another initiative, but this took just 12 hours over a school year. The return on the investment of time has been enormous!”

Going forward

There is growing enthusiasm for the opportunity Educator as Coach offers participants for personal coaching and working with colleagues with whom there would normally be limited contact. Consequently, we are now extending the initiative to include 52 participants across all nine schools (secondary and primary) within the Valley Invicta Academy Trust.