Professional development

• Leadership Pathways
  • Who is Leadership Pathways for?
  • Programme details
  • Role of the coach
  • Benefits
  • Costs
  • Apply
  • Providers
  • Information sessions
  • Frequently asked questions
  • Contact details
  • Professional development of CPD

Role of the coach for Leadership Pathways

Coach role description

The role of the school-based coach is to provide ongoing support and challenge in order to facilitate the participant's learning and the ongoing application of that learning in the workplace.

Key relationships

The coach's prime responsibility will be to establish a trusting and purposeful relationship with the participant.

The coach will liaise with the leadership mentor about the participant's progress and the development of his or her leadership change plan. He or she will also keep the headteacher informed about how the programme is progressing and its impact in the school.

It should be noted that at all times there is a clear expectation that the coach will respect the confidential nature of individual participants' issues and progress.

Programme requirements

The coach is expected to engage with the Leadership Pathways programme in the following ways.

• Submit an application to be a coach with the participant.
• Attend and engage in the leadership coach training workshop.
• Use the Leadership Pathways coach community and online network to support his or her understanding of the programme and the coaching role.
• Support the participant's reflection on the feedback report from his or her Routemap.
• Support, challenge and monitor the learning and development of the participants in the school through a series of six coaching sessions.
• Work with participants individually and, where relevant, in learning sets.
• Liaise with the leadership mentor about the progress of participants.
• Encourage participants to record their learning through the programme, for example, within the segment notebooks and the 'moving to action' and 'making the difference' processes.
• Attend the afternoon of core day three, 'Sharing Leadership Learning'.

In undertaking the role, the coach will be supported by a leadership mentor assigned to them by the local provider of the programme.

Coach person specification

Work and other relevant experience

Ideally the coach will:

• have a proven track record of team leadership at a senior level
• have experience of supporting the professional development of staff in a one-to-one situation
• have undertaken some professional training or development in the areas of mentoring, coaching, or performance management

Personal qualities and abilities

Ideally the coach will:

• have the respect of colleagues and professional credibility as a practitioner and team leader
• have a commitment to life-long learning and professional development on an ongoing basis and the ability to inspire others to continue to grow and improve professionally
• be aware of his or her abilities and areas for further development
• be emotionally self-aware, showing understanding of how his or her own feelings and the emotions of others affect the coaching situation
• build rapport through effective communication skills, using questioning and influencing skills to encourage reflection and create new agendas
• create alignment between the espoused values of the school and everyday practice and articulate what this means in practice
• be able to access and navigate the Learning Gateway and support participants in the use of these systems
• use online resources to support his or her development
• promote the use of ICT and online resources, such as talk2learn, to further the learning of others

In summary, a coach on the programme will be able to coach with integrity from a secure values base and with a concern for the needs of the participant as paramount.

Guidance for schools on the selection of coaches

The role of the coach on the Leadership Pathways programme is to provide ongoing support and challenge to facilitate the participant's learning and the ongoing application of that learning in the workplace. The role of coach is critical to the success of the programme.

The coach's main task is to facilitate the participant's in-school learning, supporting, challenging and enabling him or her to extend and develop leadership practice in a way that has an impact on the school.

This primarily involves:

• one-to-one coaching sessions with the participant
• liaison over progress and learning issues with the leadership mentor

In schools with more than one Leadership Pathways participant, it may also involve leading learning with sets of participants.

Selecting the right person to carry out this key function is essential. Experience suggests that if the right person is in place and the coaching process is given appropriate time, the prospect of participants applying their learning in their workplace increases significantly. Conversely, where a coach does not allocate sufficient time for the task, is unskilled in the role or is unclear about his or her contribution to the learning processes, a participant's learning is reduced.

A role description and person specification are available to assist schools in selecting the appropriate person for this role.

Coach training

The coach training workshop will aim to give coaches a detailed understanding of how coaching supports the participant's progress on the programme. It will also provide coaches with material for them to use to self-assess their current skills and understanding. This self-assessment process will then enable them to select appropriately from a range of additional support and guidance materials designed to aid their further development.

Lessons to date

Lessons learned around choosing a coach suggest that the following points should also be taken into account.

• The coach needs to have the professional respect of colleagues and have a strong base of experience and expertise in leadership.
• It is helpful if the coach also has a strong base of experience and expertise in coaching or mentoring.
• It is important that the coach has the status and ability to support participants in securing time and trying out new practice effectively within the school context.
• The coach must have the capacity to undertake the coach training and the six specified coaching sessions and to provide additional informal contact time to help sustain the learning.
• Where possible, the coach should not be the headteacher as experience suggests that this additional burden is difficult to manage for both headteacher and participant. This could then impair the participant's coaching experience.
• The coach needs to be committed to his or her own ongoing learning as well as to supporting the learning of others.

A suitably experienced coach is critical to the success of the programme to enable participants to develop leadership practices that have a positive impact within their school.