Coaching and Curriculum Cohesion

by Glynis Frater | Jul 16, 2021 | Coaching

Coaching is the perfect balance for successful learning

Coaching and Curriculum Cohesion

How do we create cohesion across the curriculum and build a way forward where schools re-focus in order to create successful futures? At the end of this tumultuous year and a half children have had to learn in different ways, teachers have developed innovative ways to ensure pupils thrive and a new academic year is hopefully a fresh start for all. Successful futures requires specialised and high quality CPD that involves all staff and pupils in a journey towards excellence and improvement. Find out about Learning Cultures’ powerful coaching courses and programmes.

Creating curriculum cohesion

It is essential that subject and middle leaders understand their role in delivering the overarching curriculum intent. There has always been an imperative to have well-defined structures in place that allow those with a middle leadership role to work together with their teams, with wider cross-curricular teams and with those with senior leadership responsibility to define the curriculum content and how it will be delivered. Their role is pivotal to the successful implementation of the whole school vision and the curriculum intent within it.

Returning to normal after a turbulent couple of years makes the role of the middle and subject leader even more critical. Each individual pupil and each individual teacher has their own experiences to draw on, their own successes to remember and their own undoubted frustrations to work through. It has been a learning curve, where technology has played a larger part in our lives than we could ever have imagined. A return to normality will require leadership skills and the ability to manage change as well as harnessing the positive that emerges from past experiences.

Weaving a tapestry of knowledge and skills

Autonomy in how pedagogy was planned, how curriculum content was delivered and how learners were assessed was an essential part of the whole school experience during recent school closures.

The genie is out of the bottle. Resuming a regime that is top down or focuses on performance management and imposed lesson observations will be hard to manage. There is a real imperative to give teachers the space to work together with their colleagues to interpret the vision and intent and create a rich tapestry of curriculum content, pedagogy and assessment that delivers high quality outcomes for all learners.

Learning as a continuum – building on the positive

Catch up is not the answer in itself. There must be a focus on deepening understanding, engaging with subject and cross-curricular themes and building depth and breadth in pedagogy and learning. This will undoubtedly help learners to capture lost learning as part of an ongoing strategy designed by teachers and delivered by teachers who have built strong communities of practice. The best way to achieve this is to ensure there are opportunities to engage in professional learning conversations that define and share best practice in how learners access learning that is retained, expressed and reflected on.

Coaching as the catalyst for change

Coaching is all about finding solutions, never turning a crisis into a drama and celebrating the positive. There are many reasons why developing a coaching culture at this time will be a catalyst for sustainable change. Coaching relies on creating the opportunities for professional learning conversations discussed in the last paragraph and that move individuals to think differently about their practice. Coaching is all about positive feedback; coaching is also about creating the right culture where individuals are trusted to take risks, coaching provides the vehicle for individuals to find their own solutions and to know that making a mistake is seen as a route to deeper learning and should not be dwelt on.

Coaching has a positive impact on motivation, for all staff and for pupils as it is non-judgemental, is never prescriptive and allows each individual leader, manager and teacher to grow professionally and personally in a way that impacts on whole school improvement and that is difficult to achieve otherwise.

Planning a Coaching Culture

Creating a cohesive curriculum – emerging from the past

Here at Learning Cultures we know the value of coaching as a catalyst for positive change. We have a team of experts that can lead coaching CPD for leaders, managers, curriculum and subject specialists, teachers and support staff. We understand the pastoral process and have some highly innovative tools for ensuring coaching is part of ensuring the well-being of all staff and pupils and creates harmony that leads to an environment where poor behaviour is rare and understood.

Coaching and the Pastoral Role in a School or College Setting – coaching builds confidence, fosters well-being and improves behaviour

We have a range of diverse solutions that will support schools and colleges across the spectrum of learning institutions and we know from many of our success stories that we make a huge difference to the life chances of pupils and to the career chances of all staff in education. We also understand the value of ensuring the curriculum is seen as the fulcrum for delivering a high quality education for all.

Curriculum cohesion is about pulling the strands together

Without a clear plan for how to ensure curriculum cohesion is an essential element of the strategic future for any school there will be scant evidence that senior leaders and their teams are fully aware of how well the curriculum is being implemented linked to how successful learning was over the past eighteen months. Coaching conversations create a uniform voice that can answer the deep dive questions about their own and their teams contribution to individual, group and whole school success.

Have a look at our suite of powerful coaching courses, there is something for all those who work in education.

Start or resume your coaching journey here by talking to one of our experts about our highly successful coaching strategies. Contact us here