CENTRE FOR TEACHING EXCELLENCE & RESEARCH College hosts Go9 conference
This year the Centre for Teaching Excellence & Research (CTER) had the good fortune to host the Go9 academic leaders conference at Christ’s College.
The “group of nine” is a collective of independent schools from Australia and New Zealand, who come together annually to discuss “hot topics” in education. This year the focus of the conference was how best to support and empower our teaching staff through coaching frameworks. The conference began with a thought-provoking presentation by former Black Cap, now head coach of Sydney Thunder, Shane Bond. Shane discussed his coaching journey, its highlights and challenges. He talked about the changing nature of his role and the importance of developing a culture in which everyone, including the coaches, is continually trying to challenge their own thinking and perspectives. College’s Director of Positive Education, Health & Wellbeing John Quinn then discussed the importance of language and being able to identify and promote strengths. These presentations set the platform for the CTER to present its ideas and begin a round-table discussion on how coaching could be an effective framework for secondary school teachers. There were several key areas in which we built a strong consensus. Teaching in secondary schools can be a high pressured vocation, compounded by the fact that teachers often spend large amounts of time working in isolation from their peers. There maybe little opportunity to reflect on their teaching practice with their colleagues, which can lead to stress
and anxiety, particularly if there is no pathway of support and guidance. Through coaching, teachers can learn to deal with pressure, because it allows them to think critically and regularly about issues and concerns as they experience them. All too often in schools, reflection is completed at the end of the year, when the passing of time has eroded the problems. Coaching is designed to provide teachers with challenges, critical perspectives, skills and theories to enable them to enhance their teaching and learning. It is often the conduit between theory and practice. It can become transformative, especially if it provides new perspectives and paradigms for teachers to consider. For this to occur, however, a pre-condition for both coaches and teachers is to develop what psychologist Carol Dweck refers to as the “growth mindset”. Coaching is predicated on a core set of principles and values that guide the process. These are “known truths” that underpin decision- making and the way in which the coach and the teacher relate to one another. Coaches need to believe in the underlying principle of human potential and the ability to enhance potential in a collaborative framework. It is belief that does not dwell in past performances, rather it looks to the future and the mechanisms that can fulfil it.
One of the main arguments for introducing coaching at College is that it creates conditions for high performance through experiential learning. A piece of research first carried out by IBM, which has been repeated many times since, demonstrated people could recall information in the long-term far more accurately if they learnt through experience. This would be supported by the 70/20/10 model of learning, which has become part of the educational vernacular. This model ascribes 70% of learning to on the job experience, 20% of learning through others, and just 10% of learning via formal institutions. Through coaching, teachers are given the opportunity to be observed in their teaching, to reflect and analyse their work and then to try and improve their classroom practice. While coaching was the focus of the Go9, discussions ranged from class streaming to differentiated learning. But, like most conferences, the highlight was the opportunity to connect with other colleagues and collaborate as a team. The discussions reaffirmed that we are on the right track at College. I would like to thank the Heads of Teaching & Learning for their input into this conference and I very much look forward to further collaboration with the Go9 in the future. Joe Eccleton Director of the Centre for Teaching Excellence & Research
Christ’s College Canterbury
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