The Role of Coaching in Teacher Development | A Conversation with Rachel Lofthouse

In this episode of Global Ed Leaders, I engage in a dialogue with Rachel Lofthouse, Professor of Teacher Education at Leeds Beckett University and founder of CollectivEd. We delve into the nuances of coaching in educational settings, exploring its definition, application, and impact. Rachel's extensive experience offers a unique perspective on the evolving role of coaching in education, making this episode a must-listen for international schoo educators and leaders seeking to integrate coaching into their practice.

Key Quotes:

The Impact of Brief Coaching Sessions: "And it doesn't mean that if you just have one really thoughtful, focused coaching conversation that it will do no good. If in that moment the focus is sustained, the purpose is sustained, the attention that the people give each other is sustained, it can still have quite a considerable impact."

The Cycle of Educational Trends: "This tends to happen to all sorts of phenomena in education, particularly nowadays, where social media helps things spread so quickly... And we're absolutely in a surge phase."

The Rise of Executive Coaching: "If it looks like coaching for executives in business is a good idea, then we've got a huge growth in the role of executive and education. Well, they all want a coach as well."

Interdisciplinary Approaches in Education: "Something up and running in a hurry doesn't really acknowledge that slow and emerging knowledge base. And of course, the other thing that we're not generally good at, is connecting the different knowledge bases."

The Evolution of Professional Terms: "Nothing stays unified and uniform. Nobody's got a trademark on the word instructional coaching. It's not copyrighted to anybody. So, of course, over time and in different locations, people have legitimately chosen to use similar language to describe things that."

Time and Resource Constraints in Coaching: "we haven't got an infinite amount of time and an infinite resource."

Links:

CollectivED: https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/research/collectived/

New Guide to Teacher Coaching from CollectivED at Leeds Beckett University https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/research/collectived/guide-to-coaching/

Here be dragons - myth busting Instructional Coaching for teachers | Leeds Beckett University

Thank you for tuning in, and as always, if you found this episode useful, please share your experience. You can find me online on X and LinkedIN: @leaningshane. My website is shaneleaning.com.

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About the host

Shane Leaning is a passionate organisational development coach with over 11 years of international teaching and leadership experience. His approach to coaching and professional development is all about approachability and attentiveness to the unique strengths and contexts of schools and educators. Shane believes that empowerment fosters growth and success for both educators and students alike.

Join Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensive

Shane Leaning, an organisational coach based in Shanghai, supports school leaders globally. Passionate about empowment, he is the author of the best-selling 'Change Starts Here.' Shane is a leading educational voice in the UK, Asia and around the world.

You can find Shane on LinkedIn and Bluesky. or shaneleaning.com

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