... coaching skills can even be applied to
Isikkent’s youngest citizens, the three- and
four-year-old students ...
and they also developed an
initiative to market coaching to
Isikkent students, teachers and
parents, ensuring that it would
be perceived as a positive—not
remedial—intervention from
the outset. As a result, when
Isikkent’s corps of coach-teachers
began providing services, they
did so with the full buy-in of the
school community.
Unlocking New
Approaches
Coaching is available to anyone
in the Isikkent community who
wants it. The program is closely
20 Coaching World
aligned with Isikkent’s guidance
services, and with a parent’s
permission, students may
schedule sessions with coachteachers. Topics covered during
coaching engagements have
included goal-setting, planning
for the future, interpersonal
communication and conflict
resolution. The coach-teachers
also coach Isikkent teachers and
parents on a voluntary basis, and
parents have the opportunity
to learn coaching skills
through school-provided Parent
Effectiveness Training courses.
Isikkent’s coaching culture has
brought the school closer to its
goal of achieving International
Baccalaureate accreditation
by fostering traits aligned with
the IB Learner Profile, such as
curiosity, open-mindedness and
compassion. A video released
by Isikkent Schools shows these
traits at work, as a group of
young students work together—
with coach-like support from
their teacher—to find out why a
conch shell makes a sound when
held up to the ear. (Watch the
video here.)