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Coaching in Educational Contexts
Coaching in Educational Contexts
Coaching in Educational Contexts
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Ibrahim Alhouti
University College London
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Coursework
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Ibrahim Alhouti
Module
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Coaching and Mentoring Principles, Theory and Application to Practice
Title
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Coaching in Educational Contexts
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Date:
16/5/2015
A) Introduction
B) Summary
C) Critique
D) Conclusion
A) Introduction
B) What is Coaching?
E) Coaching Skills
G) Conclusion
H) References
2
Section
1:
Critical
Review
A) Introduction
Mentoring and coaching in the education context is a young field, which leads
these two processes in order to have more impact from them in our learning
system. Pak Tee Ng is one of the researchers who are trying to examine
This critical review aims to critique Ng’s paper, which was published in the
with a brief summary of the article overall, then following with the critique, and
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B)
Summary
Ng’s literature review focuses on illustrating the similarity and the difference
professional development practices and they use the same skills and
techniques, which are aimed to help others to increase learning and develop
specific tasks through reflective enquiries, which are usually done in the short
He ends his literature review with four main points that are related to
mentoring and coaching in the school context. First, mentoring and coaching
effective results from these processes the participants must be willing to learn:
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at all educational levels, not just with teachers: school leaders also need to be
schools. Finally, mentoring and coaching are more than imparting knowledge
Two issues that guide Ng’s research are looking at the platforms that practice
different philosophies that have been applied in these two concepts. His
mentoring and coaching. The examination was done by reviewing and critical
Ng’s paper found that the Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) has used
mentoring for many years ago to develop teachers and school leadership,
addition, the paper found that mentoring was a programme offered by the
National Institute of Education (NIE), where all teachers in Singapore get their
Through these four categories the paper illustrates how mentoring takes place
at every level. The findings show that there are different platforms for every
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On the other hand, the paper found that the main platform for coaching
evaluation). During these three processes educators set their goals, and
through the year they meet with their reporting officers to review their goals
This paper ends by raising some challenges; some are related to the capacity
of experienced educators that perform this role for others, and their having
needs to focus on the nature of mentoring and coaching rather than on having
replicated platforms.
C) Critique
After presenting the summary of the article in the previous section, this
section will try to critique the paper by looking at every part of the paper and
illustrating the positive and negative points. The critique will be of both the
First of all, the title of the article is clear and specific. However, it does not
reflect the contents of the article. The aim of the paper is to evaluate and
choice of the article. Moreover, the abstract contains the most important
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points that are in the paper, and using subtitles in the abstract to separate
between sections makes it more useful for the reader, yet it makes the
abstract longer than the average, which is 100 to 250 words (Pyrczak, 2005).
The main omission in the introduction is that the author does not illustrate the
context of the study. As the study takes place in Singapore, and this is an
education system: for example, by giving some information about the system,
its aims and the types of schools. In this way, readers who – like me – are not
familiar with the Singapore context can have some idea of what it is like.
Moreover, including the sections that will be discussed in the paper will be
The literature review does not show how the researcher chose these
literatures to review and not others, or what structure he built in searching and
reviewing the relevant literature. Including these details that he omits from the
introduction in the literature review would make the literature review stronger.
the main point. However, this section illustrates the difference between
mentoring and coaching without defining them, so the reader cannot know
exactly what the writer means by these two term. On the other hand, there are
other scholars who state that mentoring and coaching are synonymous, such
as (Rogers, 2008), but Ng ignores this idea and does not mention any
In addition, there are some rules that the author sets in this literature review
without any strong evidence. For example, he mentions that coaching takes
place in the short to medium term, and mentoring in the medium to long term.
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But is there any evidence for that? If there is, why is it not mentioned? In
of the term or of the agenda? If a participant need helps from his coach to
improve his performance but they need to work with this in the long term, do
according to the duration? The big value in coaching and mentoring which
makes these more effective than other types of learning is that it is the client
who owns the agenda (Gornall & Burn, 2013; Rogers, 2008). Furthermore,
some of the ideas that Ng mentions in the literature review are conflicting. For
example, he states that the skills, techniques and tools of coaching and
mentoring are similar. Then he states that coaching is done through reflective
enquiries and that mentoring involves advice-giving, which illustrates that they
Yet, the four points with which he ends his literature review are so important:
mentoring and coaching cannot be a panacea for all problems; we still need
more evidence and research to know exactly how these processes are
influential in teaching and learning; and there are different tools that could be
more helpful than mentoring and coaching in solving specific problems such
with both teachers and leaders, and also with students and parent as a part of
explain why he chooses this method. What makes this method more useful
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that others to answer his questions? The answers to these points are missing
published academic papers to be his tools for collecting the data, but he does
not explain exactly which papers he will review: does he look for the historical
more specific in collecting the data and presenting it for the reader. However,
the research question is clear, and suitable for this research. In addition, his
findings.
The findings in the paper was organised and presented well, which helps the
the paper’s findings and to look at how different they are. However, Ng
The challenge that the paper considers in the discussion section after Ng
illustrates his findings would be better if it continued with the same separation
between mentoring and coaching as was used in the findings section. The
discussion helps the writer to reach to his answer, and to present it in a clear
way that enables the reader to look at and understand exactly what he wants
to learn from the paper. The paper ends with a clear summary of what the
paper is about and what its conclusions are, raising a further research
However, the conclusion omits to mention the limitation of the research, which
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D)
Conclusion
In summary, this critical review shows how mentoring and coaching are taking
philosophy between mentoring and coaching and their different practices and
more evidence is needed for the practice. The more evidence we have, the
to learn from Singapore how to involve this practice in our schools; then we
need to engage in research such as this to evaluate and examine how this
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Section
2:
Coaching
Report
A) Introduction
This is a suggestion report to my school in Kuwait that would help them to add
a coaching programme into our school organisation. This report will contain
several sections. The first will define coaching and show how it is different
from similar tools. Then the second section will discuss the evidence for
coaching by illustrating a number of studies and reports. The third section will
present coaching skills. The final section will consider the cost and the theory
I hope that this report will help in the understanding of coaching and its
significant in education.
programme to know exactly what we mean by it, so this section will illustrate
and discuss the definitions of coaching to make it clear what this report is
about, and to avoid confusion with similar words such as training or teaching,
because the word coaching is used in so many different ways (Rogers, 2008).
First of all, coaching is a form of development that helps people to brings out
their best in their work or life (Aguilar, 2013; Cox et al., cited in Nieuwerburgh,
thought. Scholars who work and write in this field have different views about
coaching, and they define it differently due to their backgrounds and their
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different experience. Whitmore defines coaching as “Unlocking a person’s
than teaching them” (as cited in Gornall & Burn, 2013:16). From this definition
we can know the nature of coaching: it is helping rather than teaching; the
coach is trying to help the client to learn through the coaching process, and to
empower them to increase their performance. This what makes the big
different between coaching and other tools: the “coachee owns the problem
and solution” (Schein cited in Hauser, 2009:11). Bresser and Wilson define
gives us part of the aim of the coaching process. For the purpose of this
report and in the context of the school, I will use Nieuwerburgh’s (2012: 17)
coach facilitates the self-directed learning of the coachee through questioning, active
However, there are big debates between scholars about coaching and
mentoring: are they the same or are they different? Most books and papers
written on this subject discuss this at the beginning of the work and then they
and then to conclude with what I understand and believe from reviewing
different literature.
On this point, there are two groups. The first group believe that coaching and
mentoring are not similar (for example Gornall & Burn, 2013; Aguilar, 2013).
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On the other hand, others (Rogers, 2008; Nieuwerburgh, 2012) believe that
Mentoring and coaching are not the same. It is typically the role of the mentor to guide
and advise; the role of the coach to help someone to develop new insights and to
They think that the role of coaching and mentoring are different, and the
agenda as well. The mentor in mentoring sets the agenda, not the mentee,
while in coaching the coachee sets it. However, they also accept the name
coaching for the process when the agenda is set by the sponsors, which
On the other hand, Rogers (2008) sets six important principles that help
differentiate coaching from other disciplines. Mentoring can fit with these six
believes that coaching and mentoring are “synonyms for the same process”
(p.21).
I can argue that coaching and mentoring are similar. The differences that the
first group are illustrating are not valid differences; most of the differences are
just statements. If the skills and the techniques are similar (Ng, 2012; Rogers,
2008; Megginson & Clutterbuck, 2005) and the outcomes are similar (Aguilar,
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these evidences before illustrating the impact of coaching in the school
environment. In addition, Stober et al. (2006) argue that most of the coaching
There is growing research indicating that the coaching process can help and
decide what can be expected from their work. They know that the coaching
looking at and reviewing different case studies and reports we can learn the
evidence of coaching.
findings offering validity for coaching. They conclude that coaching helps
teachers to apply their learning more deeply and improve their capacity,
learning to work with students and with each other. Moreover, they find that
coaching programmes can affect the school culture in a positive way. Finally,
the Annenberg reports conclude that coaching supports school leaders across
all school systems. Their work could be the most comprehensive study on
per cent during the three years (cited in Aguilar, 2013). Reflecting on these
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Many in the field have trusted that intuitive feeling that putting a knowledgeable coach
in a classroom to work with a teacher will result in improved teacher practices and
increased student learning. The jury of these researchers and the peer reviewers of
their work have delivered its verdict: while coaching may be new, it is no longer
unproven. (ibid:10)
Most coaches agree that coaching achieves positive change with clients
(Stober et al., 2006). Educators needs more knowledge and skills; they need
to control their behaviour after they start their jobs so they can see students
learn more (Aguilar, 2013; Ng, 2012). Coaching can supply these needs for
development has gone before: into the intellect, behaviors, practices, beliefs,
ness” (Ng, 2012:25). This shows the significance in all school contexts of
coaching, which will help schools fulfil their needs and aims.
One of the aims of coaching is to change the client for the better. Hauser
states that the “coaching system moves the individual from current thinking,
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behaviors, and performance, to expanded thinking and enhanced
success” (2009:9). Moreover, through the coaching process the client can
“close the gap between the potential and performance” (Rogers, 2008:8),
which helps the client in his future roles. However, there will not be any impact
from coaching if there is no active involvement between the coach and the
Gornall and Burn conclude from their case studies that “coaching can have a
different levels, which are both discrete and overlapping” (2013:127). Table1
illustrates some of their results, where they found that coaching had an impact
1. Clarity about vision, values and 1. Deeper understanding of 1. Improved thinking and problem-
2. An open, creative, relaxed, 2. Rethinking and development of 2. More trust and ability to open up
5. Deeper understanding of
managing change
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These results give us evidence that coaching has an impact on leaders,
teachers and students, which points all school leaders towards setting up
colleges, and universities throughout the world can further exploit the potential
studies that show the impact of coaching in the educational field. For
example, a study by Brown et al. in 2008 finds that coaching can support
Through these studies and experiences we can conclude that coaching has a
school leaders need to aware that coaching is not the solution to all diseases
E) Coaching Skills
good coach who has specific skills that help him to guide the coaching event
along the right track. Most coaches are applying skills from other fields. They
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practitioners (Stober et al., 2006). However, the Department for Education
and Skills (DfES) in UK set in their National Framework for Mentoring and
who focus on coaching skills, such as Jenny Rogers (2008) in her handbook
Coaching Skills.
It would be hard to present and discuss all coaching skills. This is due to the
are the most important skills in coaching, without which it would be hard to
The National College for School Leadership (NCSL) identified five key skills
could be the most important skills for coaching, and the most popular ones.
Building trust could be the most significant skill: without trust, the coachee will
not feel safe and will not feel comfortable. Coaches should build this trust
before starting the coaching process: the coachee needs to be sure that what
a coach because they want to change their life (Rogers, 2008). Without high
levels of trust this change will not be achieved. Moreover, asking the right
questions is one of the prime coaching skills (ibid.). As this report mentioned
questions. So the coach should have the skill to know what is the correct
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questions. This will help the coach to give the coachee the chance to speak
more and to explore his issues more fully (DfES). Finally, asking a good
coach needs to listen more to the client without trying to judge him, so that he
These skills are “simple but not easy”. The coach needs to practice them
more and more in order to master them: “When not done well, it clouds the
The significance of coaching has been made clear, and also its impact on
learning. As “coaching and learning have a close affinity. They both release
potential and build knowledge” (Gornall & Burn, 2013:9), so schools need to
the school environment: “the creation of coaching culture for learning can
PD to improve their skills and student learning (cited in Aguilar, 2013). This
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However, setting up new programmes in schools will take more time and
money (Rogers, 2008). School leaders should offer to pay the money, and to
rearrange the timetable to offer the time needed for coaching sessions.
that, the coaching culture is not part of our life. This makes it a harder task to
coaching and looking to its benefit and impact would make it easier.
In our school I think it would be helpful to start with school leaders and deputy
heads as a first step to set up this culture. This would enable the school
leader to see the demonstration of coaching and its impact on their role.
When they feel its benefit they will state: “So this is what it is all about. I want
to see this happening in my school, and I want it now!” (Gornall & Burn,
2013:17). They will have this belief in coaching because they will see the
results of coaching before their eyes. The second step would be to involve the
head of department in the process. This would let the majority of teachers and
students see the change that is achieved by the coaching process: “the best
example” (Aguilar, 2013:3). Then we can involve teachers, and finally the
be one of the school employees. This coach can train the school leader to be
a coach, which will make the process less costly in money and time.
that we are on the right track. Setting up this new culture is about changing
culture, Gornall and Burn state: “for culture change to happen, we are talking
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about going both broader and deeper, so that dedicated coaching, informal
coaching and coach-like behaviour become woven into the fabric of the
school, part of the way people feel, think, behave and relate” (2013:115).
There are different theories of change that could be helpful to follow to set up
the coaching process. However, using Martin and Holt (2007) is suitable to
our context of schools. This is due to the flexibility in their theory. Their theory
contains five different components; the school needs to take on these five
Component Result
It is important to have vision for setting up coaching in the school. Staff should
have “a clear picture of how coaching links to school aims” (Gornall & Burn,
2013:124). Without vision a school can not reach it aims. Moreover, school
leaders should have coaching skills both as coach and as coachee. School
leaders need to search for different payment resources to cover the cost of
setting up this new process. Furthermore, with an action plan the school can
decide how they involve the team, and “decide whether to invite or insist”
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(ibid.). With this plan we can go step by step to include coaching in our school
environment.
G) Conclusion
coaching session teachers can improve their teaching skills and change their
behaviour, which will reflect on student learning and outcome. Setting up this
programme has costs, such as money cost and time cost. School leaders
need to be careful about these costs, and find resources to cover them.
Moreover, leaders need to have action plan and follow a change theory to
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H)
References
Available from
http://annenberginstitute.org/sites/default/files/product/270/files/Inst
paccts.com/files/publication/1219925968/National-framework-for-
Gornall, S., & Burn, M. (2013). Coaching and learning in schools: a practical
Martin, J., & Holt, A. (2007). Joined-up governance: making sense of the role
NCLS: Nottingham
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Nieuwerburgh, C. (Ed.). (2012). Coaching in education: Getting better results
Press: Berkshire
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