CLRI Annual Report 2018

December 19, 2018 by Leave a Comment

The Centre for Learning, Research & Innovation (CLRI) is a joint venture between The Geelong College, Deakin University and The Geelong College Foundation.

The Centre aims to provide people with the ability to affect beneficial change within their schools, institutions and organisations. We engage in research projects, policy development and create professional learning opportunities, by recognising learning as an active, dynamic behaviour that emerges from interactions between the human brain and the social world.

Our 2018 Annual Report is now available and will be my last as Director before starting as Deputy Principal at Mentone Grammar in the new year.

Learn about what we accomplished in 2018 and our plans for the future.

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Supporting Teachers in Obtaining Full Registration

December 18, 2018 by Leave a Comment

The last five years I have supported graduate teachers in obtaining full registration via the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT). Graduate teachers are often feeling overwhelmed at the start of the year so I always give them some time and space to get used to the daily routine of school life before sending them a copy of the email below.

If this is something you oversee in your school and would like some further information on how I go about managing the entire process with each graduate teacher, be sure to get in touch!

Dear [name],

Hope the term/year has started well for you and you are settling in nicely to your new role.

Just wanted to touch base with you about the VIT process at some stage within the next few weeks. If you could let me know some suitable times that would be great – we should only need 20 minutes or so.

The purpose of this meeting is just to make sure you feel supported and understand the requirements of moving from provisional to full registration. There is a suggested timeline in the body of the email below, and I have also attached a VIT publication which has a wealth of information.

In summary, VIT will require of you throughout 2018 to;

  • select a class or group of students and assess the level of learning and factors affecting learning
  • determine what they already know, curriculum expectations, and identify learning outcomes
  • develop a question for inquiry
  • deepen professional knowledge and refine skills to respond to the identified area of inquiry
  • use this new knowledge to establish and implement an action plan to improve student learning
  • assess the learning of students
  • document your learning
  • reflect on the effectiveness of practice on the learning of the students and the implications for future practice and professional learning

Further information is provided in the attached eBook.

Gathering Evidence for Full Registration – Suggested Timeline
A template is provided to assist in the documentation of evidence to demonstrate the standards of professional practice for full registration.

The following timeline gives a guide to when the components of this process could take place, however if you are wanting to get it done sooner rather than later, we are more than happy to expedite the process:

Term 1: Find your feet and begin to understand the VIT requirements for full registration
Term 2: Continue to develop practice, have a mentor observe your class, observe other classes
Term 3: Use an inquiry-based approach to investigate student learning
Term 4: Organize evidence and plan for College panel meeting. Apply for full registration.

See VIT Resources via the VIT website for templates and work/evidence samples. A checklist which succinctly breaks down what is required is also available.

[Name] is excited about being your mentor through this process.

The role of your mentor is threefold:

  1. To assist you in visiting and observing at least one other class.
  2. To organize with you three classroom observations and then engage you in a professional discussion about what they observed.
  3. To sit on the final panel with the appropriate Head of School & the Director of Teaching & Learning before final submission of evidence for full registration. The purpose of this panel is for you to talk about the work you have undertaken, and to ensure that all requirements have been met up to the Proficient Teacher standard of the AITSL teacher standards.

I promise you that the process is not as scary as it all sounds! Look forward to discussing with you in the next few weeks.

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GCI Coaching Accreditation Program

December 18, 2018 by 1 Comment

Earlier this year I completed the GCI Coaching Accreditation Program. It was a culmination of a three year coaching journey, that started with the Introduction to Leadership Coaching program back in the beginning of 2015. The process of becoming a coach and developing a coaching way of being has greatly improved all aspects of my leadership.

As part of the final hurdle requirement I was required to write a reflective essay documenting a coaching relationship. Find an exerpt of this reflection below.

*All identifying information has been removed and I have been granted permission from the coachee to publish this reflective excerpt here.

Introduction
Coaching is both a formal and informal process of engaging and empowering others using a suite of people-oriented questioning and listening techniques. Whilst no agreed upon definition of coaching currently exists, the International Coaching Federation (ICF) defines it as a partnership between two people that results in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires the coachee to maximize their personal and professional potential. Aguilar (2013) describes it as “doing a set of actions, holding a set of beliefs, and being in a way that results in those actions leading to change” (p.20). Van Nieuwerburgh (2012) describes coaching as “a one-to-one conversation that focuses on the enhancement of learning and development through increasing self-awareness and a sense of personal responsibility” (p.11).

Much of the literature agrees that coaching can have a positive influence on the development of both the coach and the coachee. The coach uses a variety of techniques including active listening and asking questions to uncover beliefs and assumptions to assist the coachee to access new learning. As a result, coaching has much to offer those who work in educational environments.

The Growth Coaching International (GCI) Accreditation Program relates directly to the work I do in my workplace. Working with, leading, learning from and managing others, provides me a unique opportunity to use coaching as personal professional development as I seek to get to know, understand and serve others so that I can assist them in developing themselves professionally and reaching their goals.

Background
Our College has had eighty-two staff recently engage in the Growth Coaching International (GCI) Introduction to Leadership Coaching program. We have another four staff who are at various stages of completing the GCI Accreditation Program. In a relatively short period, we have seen significant changes in the way people talk with each other and have seen evidence of a more empowered learning culture starting to emerge.

In choosing my pro bono client, I wanted to ensure that I would be engaging with someone who was willing and able to participate for the duration of the six sessions. I made contact initially via email explaining to her the course I was completing and that I was looking for a coachee with which to work. My client accepted and as she was new to a senior leadership role in 2018, was very grateful to have someone work with her in this capacity.

My positionality is unique in this context. Whilst I am not my coachee’s direct line manager, I still have indirect leadership responsibilities so it was important to establish clear guidelines for our relationship via a coaching contract. As my client had already completed the Introduction to Leadership Coaching program through GCI, only a re-familiarization with the ICF competencies and code of ethics was required as we established clear expectations via an agreement.

We scheduled a fortnightly one-hour coaching session and agreed to meet in my client’s office. At the beginning of the first session, I explained to my client that I was ready to serve, established confidentiality and asked once again for permission to engage with her as a coach. I explained that I wanted to keep our commitment of a fortnightly session and that I had full intentions of maintaining this coaching space as a safe space with no agenda. With the advantage of having a healthy professional relationship with my client for a number of years in various capacities, I had already established credibility so I began our first session by asking questions, connecting to what my client was saying and validating where possible via a combination of active listening techniques and reciprocal and positive body language. A coaching relationship is built on trust, and having known my client for some time, it was evident that despite both our best intentions, that our existing relationship was also initially a disadvantage, as our first session at times wandered into conversation and the operational day-to-day running of a school.

About half way through this initial session I hit the metaphorical pause button as I explained to my client that we could both see what was happening and decided that we needed to setup a weekly timeslot alternating one week between a purely coaching environment and one week a more operational conversation about the school. We both agreed that this would provide greater clarity of intent and allow us to address our needs of discussing the day-to-day operation of the school and maintaining a space for a coaching relationship to further develop and evolve.

Goal setting process and applying the 8 step GROWTH model
The diagrammatic representation of the GROWTH model is linear and suggests a sequential process. Great coaches use the GROWTH framework in a fluid manner however, one that is non-sequential, non-linear and by necessity uses each stage of the model in unequal amounts. Sometimes a large percentage of time is spent unpacking and peeling back the layers of a client’s reality. Often times, by exploring realities and options, you uncover hidden beliefs or assumptions that require both the coach and the coachee to double back and re-explore what they want to achieve.

As I focused on becoming a better coach, I also noticed significant changes in my way of being. Learning the mechanics of the GROWTH model had enabled me to approach situations with a greater sense of empathy and curiosity. This way of being was reflective in both formal and informal coaching scenarios. It is an authentic and humble stance of seeing others in a positive way and valuing their unique viewpoints and perspectives. This realization was helpful in assisting my client establish a goal she wanted to work on in our first session.

My client’s goal centred on addressing certain staff behaviours and having the confidence to engage in difficult conversations. In addition, she wanted to ensure that conversations at curriculum meetings remained true to our vision for learning. Whilst our first session was somewhat interrupted as we both struggled to maintain the discipline required to engage fully in our coaching session, we did manage to work towards a goal. Establishing a goal using iSMART and the sentence stem “By…. I am…. So that….” ensured that my client and I articulated a goal that would contribute to my client’s growth and development and was specific, measurable and attainable. I had my client write down her goal as we were articulating it to add an additional layer of accountability – “By Monday 19th February, I am creating a standing item on the curriculum leadership agenda each fortnight, so that we are progressing our Vision for Learning.”

Upon reflection following this coaching session I came to the realization that I had not assisted my coachee in setting a goal, rather I had assisted her with an action. Whilst this action was important for my coachee to take, and a great first step towards realizing a much larger goal, it was not a goal. This was good learning for me and I approached this with my coachee in an honest and transparent way. I asked her how she went with her action at our next meeting, listened and prompted where necessary and then turned the conversation into the direction of clarifying for both of us the difference between a goal and an action. By reframing the conversation and re-visiting what she wanted to achieve, we set a goal of “By the end of 2018, I am facilitating effective curriculum leadership meetings so that we are being true to what we believe.” Through a number of conversations that went deeper into her current reality, this ended up morphing into “By the end of 2018, I am confident in using a coaching approach in challenging situations, so that we will have a more solution-focused staff and I am personally and professionally happier in my role.”

The impact of this goal refining process was increased clarity and as we continued to unpack her reality, the coachee was engaging in some critical internal reflection and making important discoveries about what she thought she wanted to focus on compared to what she actually really needed to focus on. The coachee had a lightbulb moment and started using a particular metaphor to describe the way they needed to prioritize.  I celebrated and affirmed this realization. As we explored this concept and identified the coachee’s priorities, I routinely bought the conversation back to the goal that we had established and asked “Given that we have now identified your priorities, what are some things you could do to work towards your goal?” When one option was offered I would prompt for further options by asking “What else?”

In a subsequent coaching session, my coachee sat down excitedly and told me in detail about how she had come to a stunning realization after our last session. I remember smiling and saying “Tell me more.” The coachee explained that she was making many of the more difficult interactions she had to have in her role too personal. I nodded and again prompted with “Tell me more.” For the next fifteen minutes the coachee explained that these conversations generally have very little to do with her on a personal level, so she felt that she would now be able to take much of the emotion she was feeling out of these situations. She explained that what she needed to do was prepare well in advance for these conversations, take a step back and look at things systemically and to adopt a mindset of curiosity. This was an incredible insight and the positive energy that the coachee was exuding was palpable. I explained this to her and she said that it was like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Harnessing this confident state I asked “With this newfound confidence, what options do you like the most for action during the coming week?” The coachee had to have a genuine conversation with someone in a few days’ time and asked if we could use the remainder of our time together to role play this conversation. Of course I agreed and we spent the next 30 minutes or so talking through different scenarios and tactics. During this time I primarily coached, but at times slid into the role of mentor by asking “Would you like a suggestion from me? At the end of this session I asked “What’s clearer for you now?” The coachee after giving this some thought responded with “That I can absolutely 100% do this!”

During our next session I asked the coachee how the conversation played out. She rated herself 8 out of 10. I asked her to articulate why she gave herself an 8 and not a 7 or a 9. The only answer that the coachee was able to access at this point was that even though she believed the conversation went particularly well, she still felt the emotion “exploding inside.” The coachee’s level of self-awareness here was particularly impressive and we discussed that by noticing how she was feeling she was exhibiting a high-degree of emotional intelligence. We talked through how we can never fully take all the emotion out of a situation.

In order to continue to build on the momentum of the coachee’s new found confidence we started to discuss specific tactics and habits. I asked questions like,
How will you sustain your newfound confidence? What might get in the way? What support will you need to maintain this? What opportunities do you see for practice and consolidation of this skill?

At the conclusion of our six sessions I agreed to continue meeting with the coachee fortnightly as one of the many tactics and habits that we discussed. The impact of these coaching sessions for the coachee was quite profound. By holding a mirror up and prompting some deep, internal reflection……..

Get in touch if you would like to talk more about how coaching can influence your own practice.

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Trusting our Teachers

December 5, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Much of the recent discourse regarding teacher education and the profession of teaching is about raising standards. This accountability paradigm insists that boosting the quality of teaching, increasing the standards of entry into the profession and improving the quality of teacher education programs will improve student outcomes. Student outcomes in this case are often narrowly defined.

Marilyn Cochran-Smith shared at the 2018 AARE conference that this accountability paradigm has emerged based on five policy, political and professional influences, namely:

  1. Unprecedented global attention to teacher quality tied to neoliberal economics.
  2. Teacher quality defined as teachers who produce large gains in student improvement.
  3. Continuous public narrative about the failure of teachers and teacher education.
  4. Teacher education defined as a policy problem focused on outcomes.
  5. The teacher education establishments own turn towards accountability.

These five influences have infiltrated, permeated and embedded themselves so deeply that they are often seemed to be self-evident. This tacit struggle is a form of cultural/political domination that de-professionalizes teachers and simultaneously reduces agency and voice. This narrative legitimizes certain institutions, practices and interests, produces policy based on contested claims and hyperbole and positions education reform as a simple cure for inequality.

What can those working in schools actually do? No one I talk to is arguing that teacher quality doesn’t matter. We want the best teachers teaching. We also have to value those that we have in the profession and provide the structures and level of support to move beyond individual and collective appraisal and explicit improvement agendas, to a system that has a focus on learning, growth and pedagogical quality. We do this through trust. By trusting our teachers we can change societal discourse, elevate the profession and perhaps somewhat counter-intuitively, increase levels of accountability. Not accountability to state or national standards, but accountability to ourselves, to our colleagues, to the students in our care and their families. A collective accountability that becomes a responsibility to enhance our profession. A moral responsibility to focus on what matters. A responsibility to tell our own stories, to change the narrative, to create our own visions and to define what counts as a successful education in our contexts.

In my experience the way schools typically enact teacher accountability and performativity measures is to have an appraisal process in place. In 2015, in conjunction with the introduction of a new professional learning model, I removed the need for our teachers to be judged on an annual basis and introduced a process based entirely around individual and collective growth.

From the communication that was sent to staff about the change.

It is recognised that The Geelong College has a responsibility to provide teachers with access to meaningful professional learning opportunities. It is also recognised that teachers are responsible for their own learning and responsible for ensuring professional learning is undertaken and the requirements for teacher registration are maintained.

In recent years teaching staff at The Geelong College have participated in a biennial Appraisal process to assist in the development of their professional skills and to document professional learning. Annual Learning Projects have become important self-determined professional learning experiences for teachers seeking to investigate their professional knowledge and practice. These projects are shared with colleagues annually and they have helped to stimulate greater vibrancy in the professional discourse among teachers. Over the last year or so, the Appraisal process has become increasingly aligned to Learning Projects.

The emerging strong relationships with Deakin University through the Centre for Learning, Research and Innovation (CLRI) and the professional value of the Learning Projects have resulted in an increase in the level of interest in post graduate research degrees among the teaching staff of The Geelong College. This is an exciting and significant development informing the next step in the ongoing development of our approach to the professional learning of teachers.

From 2016 it is proposed that a change in terminology be adopted moving from ‘Appraisal’ to ‘Professional Learning Program’ (PLP). It appears the term Appraisal no longer reflects the nature and needs of the College.

At some point every two years teaching staff will meet with the Principal (or delegate if appropriate) to review their PLP.

Key components of the PLP

  1. Annual Learning Project – this is to relate to professional learning and may include action research projects or the development of special projects related to improving student outcomes (academic, pastoral, co-curricular). A variety of methods and approaches can be adopted and may include, but not be limited to, classroom observations, interschool visits, action research projects and professional presentations
  2. Conference/course participation – documentation of participation in professional conferences and courses. This can be as delegates or presenters.
  3. Professional engagement – demonstrated professional engagement such as professional reading, VCAA marking, working with graduate or undergraduate teachers or other ways of contributing to the development of professional skills of other educators

*As a caveat, we still have a performance management and professional conduct process in place that can be evoked if needed.

In my experience, appraisal processes in schools are draconian in their implementation, or such a waste of time that they become a tick-the-box exercise. What we did was a fairly simple shift from appraisal to professional learning. The bi-annual meeting with the Principal or delegate now becomes a chance to talk about individual interests, contexts and passions, in a non-performative setting, that is influenced by a coaching approach. It was an initiative that was very well received across our community.

Systemic issues abound and can become overwhelming. But there are always small things that can be achieved in your own sites and contexts. A focus on trusting teachers is a good start.

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