My background is working as a teacher in primary and secondary education and I am passionate about seeing coaching utilized in schools. I get very excited about seeing schools reap the benefits of developing and implementing a whole school coaching strategy.
Coaching is held in very high regard in the corporate sector where it is employed to great effect in equipping and empowering individuals and teams to achieve their potential. I feel passionately that all children of every background should have that same privilege of accessing coaching tools to help them achieve their potential.
I offer:
-
Coaching for senior leaders
-
Coaching for teachers
-
Training sessions and consultancy to help enable teachers to use coaching skills
-
Introduction to and training on using coaching resources created specifically for children (The Learning Tools)
-
Introduction to and training on how coaching can help promote wellbeing and mental health
-
Coaching workshops for parents to introduce coaching tools and strategies implemented within the clasroom
Why is coaching a good idea for my school?
-
It improves self awareness and self reflection.
-
It encourages creativity.
-
It is empowering.
-
It promotes self responsibility and personal initiative, with individuals equipped to creatively solve their own problems and reach their own goals.
-
It promotes a culture in which risk taking and innovation are encouraged.
-
It helps promote a whole school learning culture in which mistakes are owned and used to bring improvement.
-
It promotes improved relationships.
-
It communicates to staff/children that they are valued and that their personal development is a priority.
-
It uncovers hidden talents and passions, as adults and children are encouraged to set goals that are personal and meaningful.
Where can the coaching model be applied in education?
-
Within senior leadership: helping leaders clarify focus and set effective goals.
-
With teachers and support staff: supporting the process of professional development and encouraging self reflection, self-motivation and innovation.
-
Within the classroom: encouraging resilience, a culture of learning from failure, self reflection and a growth mindset.
The Learning Tools
As a teacher I was frustrated at the lack of high quality tools for teaching children the basic principles of learning and positive psychology. That is why I have created the Learning Tools.
Having an awareness of whether you have a fixed or growth mindset is a start, but it is not enough. We need to give children meaningful and practical ways of actually growing self-confidence and resilience and so developing a growth mindset. I believe that my model for simply and effectively communicating the process of growth and learning does that. It is beneficial to all children and is especially valuable in narrowing the gap and supporting children with low aspirations, fear of failure and particular need for support in overcoming barriers to learning.
The Learning Tools empower children by giving them a language to discuss and understand the process of learning. They are tools to give children a tangible, practical way of personally working to develop a growth mindset. They are given tools to build their own resilience, and the language to evidence it. The adaptation of the coaching model in achieving goals is also a fantastic way of promoting independence and creative problem solving, encouraging children to take responsibility for their own learning and ensuring personal development.
With the new deep-dive framework coming into place, we are aware that it is imperative that schools have a thorough, well thought through approach to the teaching of PSHE, and are ensuring the well-being of pupils and staff. Introducing the Learning Tools as a framework for developing self-awareness, resilience and independence, is a great way of complementing your already established PSHE curriculm and demonstrating a unified whole school approach to encouraging resilience and independence in learning and creativity.
I am really proud of and excited about what I have created and know that these tools are a fantastic resource. To find out more please get in touch and I would be happy to demonstrate them to you.
"Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them."
(John Whitmore, Coaching for Performance)
DISC Personality Profiling
I am certified to use DISC, one of the most widely used personality systems today. It is a fantastic tool for learning about one another's behavioural traits. It is a great way to build understanding within teams and empower individuals to develop self awareness. It is especially helpful in the context of education as it gives individuals insight into how their behaviour traits change when operating under pressure and stress.
The benefits of introducing coaching models into schools are well documented. I would love to talk to you about how I can support you in this. Please contact me for more informaiton.
“For most of us the problem isn’t that we aim too high and fail - it’s just the opposite - we aim too low and succeed.”
Ken Robinson