Coaching in the Classroom
approaches and activities which make the
Developing Excellence and
Aspiration
If you carry out an internet search on the
word coaching you will find many sites
related to developing the performance of
people in business and industry, many
related to creating a more purposeful or
enjoyable life and many related to the
development of sporting potential. There
are very few related to using the principles
of coaching in classroom settings. Yet
daily we expect students to rise to the
challenges we set, sustain motivation in the
face of difficulties and constraints, manage
their time balance their lives and to know
what it is they want, where they are
heading and how they are going to get
there. We also hope that they will develop
the skills of being able to think
independently.
The Gifted and Talented agenda seeks to
ensure that every student receives an
appropriate level of challenge. It aims to
reduce underachievement by
understanding and tackling its causes and
above all it seeks to develop potential. In
addressing these issues we frequently look
for strategies and techniques which we can
adopt in the classroom an interesting way
of delivering a topic in History, a new
grouping technique, some extension
problems which will provide an interesting
challenge for those we define as more
able. These are all valuable activities, but
their emphasis is very much on what we
might be asking the student to do. It is
important that teachers have a toolkit of
classroom a challenging and interesting
place to be. But in addition to our toolkit of
teaching and learning activities it is also
valuable to have a toolkit which addresses
the emotional and motivational elements
which are vital if students are to be able to
aspire and achieve.
In looking to develop student potential we
can learn a great deal from the worlds of
business and sport and from the mass of
psychological research on the achievement
of excellence. To strive to achieve your
very best in anything requires a great deal
of determination, vision, self-belief,
confidence, resilience, motivation and self-
knowledge. Anyone who has tried to
change their lives in any significant way or
who has faced a significant challenge will
know how easy it can be to give up. To
have low aspirations is the path of least
resistance. If you aspire to little you are
less likely to be disappointed and less likely
to feel the pain of failure or rejection. For
some people the greatest difficulty is
knowing what it is they want in the first
place! If only I knew what I wanted to do I
would go out and do it!
Being aware of the value of a coaching
relationship and learning about some
approaches to coaching can be another
tool in the teachers toolkit. A coaching
approach can enable a teacher to better
understand a student and to guide the
student towards a better understanding of
themselves. It provides a method for
handing over a greater degree of control to
the student and thereby developing their
independence.
What is coaching?
Coaching is a way of being with people
which provides and sustains a space in
which they can think. It enables them to
see where they are going more clearly and
discover their own ways to move forward.
It is about helping them to learn rather than
teaching them.
Coaching is about a partnership approach
to learning where the coach does not claim
to know all the answers but acts to support
the other person in identifying their own
solutions and a commitment to action.
Socrates was said to be a great teacher
not because of the information he gave
people but because of the questions he
asked them. At the root of good coaching
lie two things the ability to listen well and
the powerful question.
The coaching relationship seeks to do a
variety of things:
1. To clarify with someone just what it is
they want to achieve
2. To support them in creating a realistic
plan of how to get there
3. To act as a mirror to enable the person
to see themselves and their actions
from a different perspective
4. To hold onto the vision or the goal for
the person when they feel they might
give up
5. To challenge the person to stretch
further
Within the classroom coaching dialogues
focus on encouraging students to explore
and verbalise their own understanding of
what it is they are doing or thinking about
rather than providing them with pre-
digested answers.
Many good teachers are natural coaches,
but not all. However, everyone can begin to
acquire or develop the skills needed to be
an effective coach. When we develop
coaching skills we examine the ways in
which we communicate with our students
and we engage with the process of
learning and developing, not just the
content or the final outcome. Through
coaching we can help our students or our
colleagues to come to a better
understanding of themselves, and to a
clearer picture of the actions they may wish
to take.
What does a coach do?
Listen
Many of us like to think we are good
listeners but the reality is that in this busy,
often frenetic world people rarely find the
time to listen to each other in anything
more than a superficial way.
Many people, when they are listening to
others are actually mentally planning what
it is they want to say next. This might be
well motivated thinking about the advice
they are going to give the other person or
the solution they have to the other persons
problem. Whilst they are talking we are
busy formulating our own response.
However, if we are mentally thinking about
our own response then we are not giving
the other person our full attention. If we are
not giving our full attention then our
listening is less good and we can miss the
clues which help us to understand the full
message which is being communicated. It
is said that there is more communicated
through non-verbal channels such as
posture, tone of voice, pitch and pace than
through the words being spoken. To be
open to these signals we need to be fully
present and fully attentive.

Reflective listening
Reflective listening is a powerful tool to
signal to the speaker that we have
understood what it is they are saying and
also to enable them to clarify that they
have communicated what they intended to
communicate.
The key elements of reflective listening are:
1. Encourage the other person to speak
without interruption.
2. Paraphrase what the speaker says at
appropriate intervals. With a provides a space for the person to say
paraphrase we summarise the essence
of what the speaker says in our own
words.
Example:
Sarah: I cant decide whether to do Art
or Chemistry. I really enjoy the
creativity of painting but Im not sure
how good I am. I only got a C in my AS
level. My teacher says that I am good
enough to get into Art school but I think
I am better at Chemistry. I got a B in
Chemistry
Teacher: So you enjoy the creativity of
Art but you feel that you are better at
Chemistry?
3. Reflect feelings. The reflection of
feelings involves feeding back to the
speaker the emotions he/she is
communicating.
Sarah: My Dad wants me to do
Chemistry. He says that there are
better jobs in the sciences and that I
should just keep art as a fun activity.
But my Mum says I will get greater
pleasure from art. The trouble is I
need to make up my mind because I
need to be applying soon.
Teacher: It sounds as if you are feeling
confused and torn between the advice
from your mother and your father.
People need to be understood at both an
emotional and a semantic level.
Paraphrasing and reflecting feelings enable
them to know that you have understood
and also to correct any misunderstanding.
Sometimes reflective listening can help the
person clarify. What they hear back does
not ring as true and they then choose to
modify or correct what they said at first.
Another value of reflective listening is that it
more on the subject. If we come in with
our own suggestion or solution we prevent
further thinking on the other persons part.
Providing our version of the solution can
serve to end the persons exploration of
their own problem. It could be said that by
providing our own solution we are actually
saying that we dont believe they can come
up with their own. We are denying them
the opportunity to think.
Good listening also means being
comfortable with silence. It is often in a
silence that the other person is doing some
deep thinking. If we jump in we stop the
process.
Encourage people to think for
themselves
In her book Time to Think Nancy Kline
1
argues that the quality of the attention we
give each other is the key to developing an
environment which encourages people to
think for themselves. She describes the
Ten Components of a Thinking
Environment. These are:
1. Attention Listening with respect,
interest and fascination.
1
Kline N Time to Think Cassell ISBN 0-7063-7745-
1
2. Incisive Questions Removing
assumptions that limit ideas
3. Equality Treating each other as
thinking peers
4. Appreciation Practising a five-to-one
ratio of appreciation to criticism.
5. Ease Offering freedom from rush or
urgency.
6. Encouragement Moving beyond
competition
7. Feelings Allowing sufficient emotional
release to restore thinking
8. Information Providing a full and
accurate picture of reality
9. Place Creating a physical environment
that says back to people You matter
10. Diversity Adding quality because of
the differences between us
It can be valuable to reflect on your own
classroom and ask yourself to what extent
the above characteristics are present.
What can you change in the physical
environment or in the way in which you and
your students communicate which will
make it more conducive towards thinking?
Give feedback rather than pass
judgement
As teachers we are constantly passing
judgements about children and students
too quiet, too slow, very bright, not very
bright. Our judgements frequently act as
labels and children will live up to these
labels thus proving us right!
Coaching recognises that if people are to
improve their performance they need
feedback. Feedback needs to be focused
and specific. It needs to relate to the
behaviour being carried out and not the
nature of the person carrying out the
behaviour. For example if I say:
You were too quiet in todays lesson
this acts as a judgement on the person.
However, if I say:
You might have got more out of the lesson
if you had asked more questions
this provides feedback on their behaviour.
The best feedback is feedback which the
learner has requested. We need to begin
to train our students to make requests for
specific feedback. If I ask a student what
kind of feedback they would like on a
particular piece of work this hands over a
degree of responsibility to them to select
the aspect of their performance on which
they might like to work.
Question
Sometimes in order for a person to move
forward with their thinking they need the
stimulus of a powerful question. A question
might be as simple as Can you say more
about that? to a much deeper question
about assumptions being made, alternative
points of view or limiting beliefs.
As a coach rather than jumping in with
advice a well thought out question can lead
the learner forward much more effectively.
Mirror
Through reflective listening the coach can
act as a mirror in which the person sees
themselves. Sometimes this is all that is
needed for a person to move forward.
Draw out meaning
Help the person to understand their
situation and the options available to them.
Believe in the other person and expect
their best
Many of us are capable of greater things
when we think someone else has faith in
our ability. Expecting the best in others
and believing that they are capable of this
best is empowering. However, together
with this must go a continued positive
regard if the person fails to achieve the
expected outcome. A good coach never
gives up on their client. They do not
respect them less because they fail to
achieve the goal. We all need to know that
we are loved and respected for who we are
and not just for what we achieve.
Agrees actions
The outcome of any coaching session is
usually agreed actions. However, the client
must be committed to these actions. If
they state that the likelihood of them
carrying out the agreed plan is less than
80% then it might be advisable to negotiate
a simpler action.
Models of Coaching
There are many models of coaching which
can provide a framework within which to
work. One of these is the GROW model.
Its stages are:
1. Goal
- uncover the issue the person
wants to talk about, help them envision
who they would like things to be
2. Reality
- help them describe their current
reality and identify what needs to change
3. Options
- explore possible options what
steps could they take? Offer opinions with
care. Ideally solutions should come from
them
4. Win commitment
- what actions are they going to
take? How committed are they to taking
these?
How can this approach be used on
a day to day basis?
Listen more, talk less!
At the beginning of a year ask your
students to identify their own personal
aims. Aims can be more than exam
grades. Ask them to write down what
they would like to have achieved in
twelve months time. Seal this in an
envelope and open in a years time.
You might also ask them to consider
what might get in the way of their
achievement of this aim eg part time
job, difficulties at home, nowhere quiet
to work and ask how they plan to deal
with it.
Use a similar approach from time to
time eg at the start of a new block of
work. Write down which skills you are
going to focus on in the next weeks
Talk to your students about success.
Success is not just about getting a high
grade. Success is about achieving
something you have set yourself.
Success is about doing something
better than you did before. Success is
feeling good about yourself.
Increase the use of open-ended
questions. Ask questions to which
nobody knows the answer.
Allow students time to struggle with
problems resisting the temptation to
jump in with an answer. Use a powerful
question rather than offering an answer.
Listen carefully to students
understanding and ask questions which
help clarify that understanding.
Discuss learning priorities and negotiate
deadlines
Give genuine appreciation five times
more than criticism. There is a
distinction between appreciation and
praise or reward. Appreciation is an
 acknowledgement of what someone
has done or achieved as opposed to a
reward which is designed to be some
kind of external consequence which
reinforces the behaviour.

Train students how to listen well to each

other.

Become comfortable with leaving

silences in which people can think

Check you own level of ease! Be clear

about your own values and priorities.

Christine Miskelly
Villiers Park Educational Trust
Sept 2004