Professional development

• Leading from the Middle
  • Who is LftM for?
  • Programme details
  • Role of the coach
  • Benefits
  • Costs
  • Apply
  • Providers
  • Frequently asked questions
  • Contact details

Role of the coach on LftM

The purpose of the leadership coach is to facilitate participants' in-school learning by supporting them and challenging them to extend their practice in a number of ways.

• Awareness - developing and enhancing leadership skills.
• Leading teams - developing their team in school.
• Managing change - their in-school Leadership Focus.

Coaching sessions will be a combination of one-to-one and a whole learning set.

The leadership coach role is usually undertaken by an effective, experienced leader who is committed to making the programme work for the benefit of participants and the school. Potential coaches need to be able to provide a continuous, supportive commitment throughout the programme as this is key to the participant experience and involvement in the programme. At a basic level, leadership coaches need to:

• attend face-to-face full day and twilight sessions
• become familiar with online materials
• convene in-school work and hence provide support for the completion of the Leadership Focus
• provide ongoing support to the middle leader participants
• commit and engage in their own learning

The face-to-face commitment of the leadership coach involves attending:

• one full day of coach training and support
• induction engagement twilight in support of middle leaders
• leadership coach twilight - mid-programme
• celebration-consolidation twilight with the middle leader participants

Several previous leadership coaches have simultaneously participated as coaches in the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH), using their experience as a leadership coach on this programme as an important source of evidence for NPQH assessment purposes.

The role of leadership coach also requires you to actively engage with the headteacher. The headteacher should support the application of members of staff, giving a strong message about the commitment to professional development of leadership at all levels within the school. Some headteachers may wish to act as leadership coach for middle leaders in their school. While some heads have successfully completed this role, potential coaches need to be aware of the level of continuous commitment needed to fulfil the role to its full extent.

Once colleagues have embarked on Leading from the Middle (LftM), the headteacher continues to play an important role. Heads ensure that participants and leadership coaches have the encouragement and support needed to gain the most out of the programme.

The Leading from the Middle partnership statement details the role of the headteacher at all stages of the programme.