CPD Team

This is a guest post from Jean Ward of Kirkwall Grammar School

Two and a half years ago, on  a wintry day in January, I attended the first cohort of training on non directive coaching and mentoring. Like many of my colleagues who have also completed the training, I have discovered I use it in nearly all aspects of my professional and personal life. We are all now looking at ways these skills can be developed in other staff and with our pupils.

This was originally a SEED funded  project which has grown and been sustained in Orkney. The original target group was emergent leaders and  probationer mentors, a  number of whom  have gone on to gain professional recognition from the GTCS in mentoring. Probationers were supported with the introduction of a course called “ The Reflective Practitioner” which took the personal awareness aspect of the coaching course and encouraged these new professionals to examine their interpersonal and intrapersonal skills. Probationers who have benefited from this training and the coaching skills of their mentors are now signing up for the full course.

The course covers the main skills involved in non-directive coaching; listening, questions, body language, silence, scaling and dialogue all to support Clutterbuck’s GROW model.  Staff from all levels of the school service have now completed the initial training. Participants are encouraged to form coaching partnerships, a buddy system of support. The course also runs in Shetland and the Western Isles allowing practice and experiences to be shared. A member of Kirkwall Grammar School staff participated in delivering the course during INSET in Stornoway in October 2009.

In Kirkwall Grammar School we now have a number of staff trained and we wanted to see how we could develop these skills with our pupils.

 We turned to Coaching and Reflective Practitioner course leader Kate Coutts (Shetland Islands Council) to  develop and pilot a 2-day course for S6. We have now had 2 groups through the process and have used their feedback to mould the direction of the course. We also wanted to be able to self deliver. With the help of a colleague and coaching buddy from one of the associate primaries, we are now in the position to offer a  ‘reflective practitioner’ type course to S6 pupils called “ S6 What’s Next?”  We have included in this an introduction to the GROW model as a tool for self coaching on difficult issues. Combining it with some of the AiFL  buddying and peer support techniques, pupils are beginning to tackle what the future may hold in a much more structured manner. Feedback from participants has been very positive. We would like to start looking at the impact it has on their learning overall and quality of their Personal statements and applications.

We now believe we can offer a similar course in S4.  This course will be called “What Now ?” If we make an introduction to coaching and the GROW model at this stage, we can develop the S6 course in to the full coaching course, very similar to that on offer to staff. Who knows? Maybe we can even have staff and pupils training together.

Coaching has a significant role to play in the personal development and independent learning of staff and pupils. We have a lot to explore here in KGS and we may write further blog posts about how we are getting on.

Last year,  S1 also had a significant coaching experience but it demands a separate report. A group of ten pupils participated in the powerful leadership development tool that is METASAGA.  I leave you to find out more about that on your own.

I recently had the opportunity while on a private visit to Orkney to meet with Education colleagues at the Council’s Headquarters in Kirkwall.

Marilyn Richards, Head of Quality Development, Morag Millar and Carol McManus, Service Improvement Officers all have a role in relation to CPD. Carol is a new colleague who has the remit for overall CPD Coordination. In fact the day I visited was her first day in post and I think we both learned a lot from the discussion!

Orkney is a unique context with a strong sense of local identity and many distinctive features. One notable feature is the flexibility which can be achieved in an intimate setting where people really know each other well. When a need for specific development work is identified, the team can mobilise people very quickly to get involved and there is always the opportunity for teachers to “put their hands up” and offer to lead on developments. In this way much work on CfE including developing cross cutting themes, personalisation and choice and creativity has been developed. Some work is undertaken jointly with colleagues from Shetland.

This intimacy of scale was very well illustrated when I happened to mention that I had met two probationer teachers in a café and the team immediately knew to whom I had been talking. The probationers had been very enthusiastic and full of praise for the support they were receiving in their school.

At the time of my visit the final preparations were being made for the 3rd Orkney Learning Festival, which, after two successful years has now developed as an Integrated Children’s Services Festival to include colleagues from NHS, Community and Families and Social Work. In total 600 colleagues will be participating in a wide ranging and exciting programme of CPD.

It was a privilege to get an insight into the very different context that colleagues worked in and to the unique strengths that Orkney had to offer. Thanks to Marilyn, Morag and Carol for their time and best wishes for another successful Learning Festival in October.