Impact coaching is a process designed to improve instructional practices, foster collective efficacy, and ultimately improve student outcomes. It empowers educators to find their own solutions through guided questioning and feedback, fostering a culture of reflective practice, high expectations, and collaborative learning. The coaching process helps individuals move from their current state (point A) to their desired state (point B), promoting self-awareness and personal growth.
Impact coaching is not only beneficial for classroom teachers but also for leaders. It helps leaders refine their leadership practices, set strategic goals, and foster a collaborative culture within their teams. By engaging in impact coaching, leaders can develop a deeper understanding of their impact on their teams and drive school-wide improvement.
The Whiria te Tangata Kāhui Ako ASL team, in collaboration with Laurayne Tafa, has developed a comprehensive framework to support within-school leaders and teachers in effectively conducting impact coaching sessions. This guide provides a step-by-step approach, including sample questions, to help you navigate your coaching conversations with confidence and purpose.
Conducting a Coaching Session
Preparation
Identify the Need: Understand the challenge or area for improvement from both the teacher’s and the students' perspectives. Collect relevant data and evidence to support the identified need.
Set Clear Goals: Define what success looks like and establish high expectations. Determine short, mid, and long-term goals, ensuring they are time-bound and measurable.
Building Trust and Setting the Scene
Whanaungatanga: Start your session by building relational trust. Acknowledge everyone present, check in on their well-being, and establish a comfortable environment.
Example questions: "How are you? How have you been? What’s on top?"
Framing the Session
Interaction Protocols: Clearly outline the protocols for the session to ensure a structured and respectful conversation.
Establish expectations: "I’m just going to share with you our golden circles. Do you want to set a time limit on this?"
Power sharing: Encourage co-creation and collaboration. "Tell me about your progress towards..."
Conducting the Coaching Conversation
Speaking Frame: Begin with the teacher reflecting on their thoughts and feelings about their current practices.
Reflective prompts: "What surprised you about the feedback (good or bad)? What do you think needs to change in light of this feedback?"
Active Listening: Listen without interruption, making notes about key points raised by the teacher.
Questioning: Use coaching questions to guide the conversation, ensuring no:
judgments
examples
deficit theorising, or
solutions are provided directly.
Feedback and Follow-up
Review and Reflect: After the coaching session, reflect on the conversation and identify actionable steps.
Example questions: "Can we set a follow-up meeting time to check progress?"
Continual Improvement: Encourage the teacher to practice and refine their strategies, using self and peer reviews for ongoing development.
Sample Questions for Coaching Sessions
Clarifying Questions:
"When you said X, could you clarify Y?"
"Can you provide more detail about…?"
Explaining Questions
"How do you explain why you chose X?"
"Can you elaborate on your reasoning for…?"
Describing Questions
"Describe how you approach…?"
"Can you detail your experience with…?"
Challenging Questions
"What do you think is most challenging about this situation?"
"How do you plan to overcome this obstacle?"
Confronting Questions
"How do you think your actions contribute to the current situation?"
"What changes do you need to make to achieve your goals?"
Impact coaching is a powerful tool for professional growth and improving teaching practices. By following this coaches can effectively support their colleagues in reflective practice and continuous improvement, fostering a culture of collective efficacy and enhanced learner outcomes.
Acknowledgements
This guide has been developed by the ASL team in collaboration with Laurayne Tafa. Their combined expertise and commitment to fostering educational excellence have been instrumental in creating a robust framework that empowers within-school leaders to drive meaningful change.
Further Resources:
WSL Whiria te Tangata Coaching Overview: Detailed protocols and questions for conducting effective coaching sessions.
NITS Framework: A tool for deepening inquiry and addressing challenges in educational settings.
Collective Teacher Efficacy Progressions: A framework for evaluating and promoting collective efficacy among teachers.
Learner Agency Progressions: Guidelines for fostering student agency and co-agency in the learning process.
Collaborative Coaching Fishbowl: Further detailed protocols and questions for conducting effective coaching sessions.
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