It has truly been a professional joy to work on AAICIS’s Development Team where we are writing documents to support instructional coaching in schools.  One of the documents we worked on last year was the Conditions for Success.  (Please click here if you would like to download this document).

Today the wonderful Joellen Killion used these to kick off the AAICIS Leader Speaker Series for AAICIS where she discussed Leading for Impact.  She explained how to use AAICIS’s Conditions for Success to build and maintain a successful coaching programme in schools.  In this Zoom meeting she called on school leaders to think about the role of a leader and what their responsibilities are in supporting a successful coaching programme so that all teachers have access to a coach.

She started with a quote, “Instructional coaching serves as a catalyst for change only when coaches and school leaders are in full agreement on coaching roles and coaching goals, priorities and processes.”  She explained that there needs to be shared goals between coaches and school leaders otherwise there will be fragmentation in the role of a coach.  Leaders need to support building a coherent message of waht a coach does (and what a coach should not be asked to do!).

Joellen started by explaining the importance of a shared vision and clarity of purpose.  There should be goals for coaching as a tool for continuous improvement of instruction.  Many people think the primary role of a coach is to support teachers, but ultimately the role goes beyond this:  it is to support student learning.  As our primary goal this needs to be our north star – as she explained, “we pass through teachers to support students”.

Joellen also talked about the importance of a culture of coaching.  She explained that we need openness (deprivatisation of practice) and honesty about what we need to work on.  There needs to be transparency and a focus on growth – in fact these same attributes are also important in our dealings with students as well.  We need to see that there are always opportunities for learning and growing.

Leadership support is vital – it can involve frequent check-ins, support for PD and clear partnership agreement.  She asked leaders, how are you demonstrating support for coaching and coaches in your school?  She explained that it can be powerful to be coached as a school leader and to share the impact of this with your staff.

As well as this, coaches need time to meet, access to spaces for confidential meetings, and resources.  Joellen challenged leaders to ask, what do coaches want? and what will they appreciate the most?

She underlined the importance of a clear coaching model that includes a focus on the process and on the school goals.  There is a need to define the roles of a coach and which of these have priority.  Coaching is not to “fix” a problem, but should be used to address deeper cycles of learning.  She asked, how coaches developing capacity in your coaching model?  Do staff know what their role is?  How do you support coaches to stay focused on their primary role?

Another thing worth considering by leaders is who your coaches are and why were they hired.  How do you help your coaches to grow?  We discussed the importance of building trust and the role of collaboration.

For me, quality assurance, sustainability and feedback mechanisms go well together.  We know that there is a correlation between coaching, building teachers’ capabilities, and student success.  But schools do need to collect data to monitor and assess the effectiveness of coaching – so what data can be collected and how?  Feedback needs to be for the coach, for the coaching programme and for the conditions.

We also discussed professional learning communities for growth and development, both for the coaches and for the teachers.  It’s worth considering how coaches are supporting PLCs in their schools as well as how coaches are contributing to individual teachers’ professional goals.  Joellen asked, do coaches focus on this during the coaching sessions?  This condition for success ties in with another one:  inclusive and differentiated support.  

Finally we considered collaborative reflection and goal setting. How are schools building this in for coaches – we can all learn from sharing our experiences.

For more information about AAICIS, the Association for the Advancement of Instructional Coaching in International Schools, and how it can help empower educators and unlock student potential through advocaty centred on instructional coaching, please visit the AAICIS website.