The Impact Cycle – Defining the instructional coaching process
This is the third article that I am writing about the concept of instructional coaching. Here I want to focus on the impact cycle, a simple cycle that provides the coach and the teacher with a powerful framework for using the partnership principles that I explained in the second of these articles. The more I read about instructional coaching the more I can see the relevance to how the approach can translate into powerful professional development for teachers and schools here in the UK.
In my first article I talked about how I have found the term ‘instructional’ difficult to accept when talking about coaching. When you know that instruction is the word used to describe pedagogy and the highly effective strategies that teachers employ in order to create the right conditions for learning it is much easier to see how it relates to a model for the quest to create for teachers the CPD that will enhance their practice and their status as professionals.
The impact cycle is made of three elements:
Identify
First of all, it is the role of the coach and the teacher to work together to identify their goal for what it is they want to improve. Linking this to the principles of partnership is important in creating the right conversations between the coach and the teacher so that it is the teacher who has choice and ownership of their decision to look in detail at a particular element of their practice that they want to work on.
The coach must have a profound knowledge of pedagogy and good practice in order that he or she can support the development and the improvement process. The coach also needs to create opportunities for there to be an honest and shared understanding of the current reality in relation to where the teacher is now and where he or she wants to move to in terms of how they want to change and the impact that change will have on their practice and their teaching.
Learn
The imperative to learn is an essential element of this process and requires a commitment by the coach and the teacher to work together to have a shared belief in what highly effective practice means and can create ways to define and articulate it. This could include a commitment to creating a set of resources that support the process of development. Coaches could work with their teacher partner to develop a checklist of what new approaches could support change or simply be a discussion about what the teacher might try that is a change to their current approaches. It might also include lists that define other teaching strategies the teacher could work on as part of their learning and be an agreement of a willingness to try our something new or different.
If we are to embrace instructional coaching as a powerful tool in the teaching and learning CPD box there must be a commitment to ensuring that the relationship between the coach and the teacher is equal where the teacher has the autonomy to define their own learning journey where there coach is there to guide them and not to tell them how to improve or change their practice.
Trust is a critical element of this process. The coach may be more experienced, have a deeper understanding of what works well and knows intrinsically how the teacher can improve but telling the teacher is not the way forward here. The coach must guide the teacher towards finding their own solutions.
Modelling can be a useful way to enhance the learning for the teacher and create for the coach a means of supporting without giving advice or telling the teacher what is best. The teacher and the coach could work together in the classroom in a co-teaching process, the coach can then observe the learning and feedback to the teacher in a positive way. The teacher could observe other teachers who are using the same or similar techniques. Opportunities to reflect and share good and best practice are invaluable. The use of videos is also a very good way for the coach and their teachers to share ideas about what good teaching looks like.
Improve
The ultimate purpose of instructional coaching is to ensure that where goals are agreed for improvement over time that the journey that is defined does lead to positive change in pedagogy, behaviour or practice. The coach needs to ask the question, ‘How do I know that I am having an impact on continuous improvement in teaching and learning as a result of my careful interaction and direction’? Improvement is about moving towards measurable change in performance that has an impact on learning for both the teacher and the pupil.
Another important and significant question that a coach needs to ask themselves is, ‘What does it mean to improve’? In order to answer this question the coach and the teacher need to have had a discussion that leads to a consensus that the teacher has made the incremental and structured steps that has led them to see how the changes they have made have had a significant impact on their performance and that of the pupils they are teaching. This shared dialogue is very necessary in determining next steps along the route towards sustainable long-term continuous improvement.
The coach needs to be clear as to the difference between deep learning and surface learning and have the repertoire of questions that will ensure that their teachers are developing their own clarity as to the difference. This process is also about the coach focusing on ensuring that their coaching skills are deeply effective and do not simply provide a shallow crutch for the teacher to use in order to appear to be listening and committing to improving their own performance.
The imperative to ensure that the relationship is built on the seven partnership principles
In my previous article I talk about the seven principles of partnership that are crucial to the development of a programme that delivers an instructional coaching model. The important message is that we are talking about coaching in relation to a process of continuous improvement. The coach and the teacher they are working with are partners, the coach must not be seen as more important or senior to the teacher. Their goal is work together to build incremental steps that will have an impact on learning for both the teacher and the pupils he or she teaches.
The seven principles of partnership are, equality, choice, voice, dialogue, reflection, praxis and reciprocity. Read my previous article here to see these seven principles amplified. It is to the coach to ensure that these principles are at the heart of the coaching relationship.
A top down approach is significantly different from a partnership approach,
Top-down Partnership
Compliant Commitment
Pupils’ needs are decided outside the classroom Pupils’ needs are decided inside the classroom
One size fits all One size fits one
Constructive feedback Dialogue
Coach does most of the thinking Teachers does most of the thinking
Judgmental Non-judgmental
Teachers have lower status than coaches Teachers have equal status with coaches
Accountable to leaders Accountable to pupils
The power of the relationship between the coach and the teacher
Instructional coaching is all about fostering positive improvements in teaching and learning. The impact cycle is a useful framework for ensuring that there is a process that is agreed between the coach and the teacher. The coach and the teacher look at the current reality and set goals for what the teacher can achieve in terms of their pedagogy, planning, assessment or classroom management. The coach is there is there to provide support until the goals are met. The coach is there as a partner and not an overseer of performance.
Let’s revisit and reframe the questions that the coach and the teacher need to be able to discuss in their quest for progressive improvement,
- What does it mean to improve?
- How will I know when the quest for improvement is having an impact on continuous professional development and learning?
- How is improvement measured?
Remember that teachers like to learn but do not want to be taught. The motivation to learn must come from them and their coach should have a profound understanding of the impact of their relationship with the teacher. Listening, asking incisive questions, building a rapport linked to teaching and learning all build positive interactions that will lead to positive and fruitful change.
Start with our course Approaches to Instructional Coaching – Personalising CPD for teachers
We can support you in your development of a coaching culture in school. We have the expertise; we have all been leaders in education and we know a lot about pedagogy and teaching. Ask us about,
- Coaching Certification
- Leading a coaching culture in your school
- Senior leadership coaching
- Subject leadership
- Wellbeing and pastoral care and support
Read my other two articles that precede this one. I have tried to build a picture here of how the principles of instructional coaching that is a model used in the USA can have potential to be the framework for coaching that leads to continuous improvements in teaching and learning. There is a place for this approach alongside, facilitative and other types of dialogical coaching.
- Instructional Coaching – a pedagogy for learning
- Instructional Coaching – exploring the seven principles of partnership
- The Impact Cycle – Defining the instructional coaching process view this article on our website
Read more about Instructional Coaching here