LEARNING TO LEARN
something we should be tapping into to further develop our staff . Instructional coaching works best when done on a sustained basis with multiple coaching cycles ( Sherrington , 2022 ), with one cycle per term ( Burns , 2022 ) hence the recommended cycle in Figure 1 .
The appraisal / review process continues in its current format , apart from the ‘ lesson observation ’ section being a short write up of key learning points that the staff member has taken from their learning community for that academic year . This is a summary of what they have learnt from the reading of literature / lesson observations developing and informing their practice . This change will help to emphasise that a single lesson observation should not just take place for the sake of the appraisal process . This process is repeated year on year , with staff choosing new areas of interest , or potentially opting to continue further exploration of their current area for a second year .
Each small learning community could have someone who has greater expertise in the area to lead the group , suggest sources to look at , and provide guidance and information on best practice . However , it is felt this is not the best approach ; we will struggle to get enough ‘ experts ’ for multiple learning communities and having an ‘ expert ’ may well mean that they do not get developmental coaching themselves and do not benefit as much from the process . Therefore , a better model may be to have those heavily involved in the ITL use their expertise to suggest sources to each learning community in advance , whilst being in a community themselves , ensuring that they do not miss out on this valuable experience too . Long-term , the aim would be that as a school we then get enough people who are experts in specific areas . We could meet the aim of having ‘ experts ’ in each learning community and meet the more typical instructional coaching cycle model seen in Appendix 1 , where experts are able to ‘ model ’ successful strategies .
Instructional coaching best practice :
It is important for all members of a learning community to build credibility , trust , and rapport with each other , and for there to be an understanding that conversations had in these learning communities are confidential .
Each learning community meeting , and coaching meeting between individuals after an observation to provide feedback , should ideally have a structure , such as :
1 . Discuss recent reading and learning points .
2 . Review previous goals and informal observations and offer feedback ( What was learnt ? What went well ? What needs further development ?)
3 . Set future goals . 4 . Agree next informal observation cycle .
Two of the most popular instructional coaching goal setting frameworks currently used by schools can be seen in Table 1 . These frameworks do not have to be stuck to rigidly but are useful to set appropriate goals . When setting new goals over the course of each termly cycle , it is important for the goals set to increase in complexity for learning community participants to aim to achieve mastery in the area of pedagogical development they are focusing upon ( Farndon , 2019 ). That said , they must increase in complexity in bitesized chunks to avoid goals being unrealistic and unmanageable ( Tavassoly-Marsh , 2022 ).
TGROW
• Topic
• Goal
• Reality of where you are now
• Options
• What will you do next ?
BASIC
• Background to the situation
• Aim
• Strategy
• Implementation
• Continued in a sustainable way
Table 1 : Two popular goal setting frameworks within instructional coaching
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