What role does the coach of a professional learning community have?

When we talk about coaching, we mean evoking and supporting learning (Clement, 2015):

1. Evoking: stimulating people to set a step in uncertainty. People don't always feel eager to learn, do not always want to change or improve something...
2. Supporting: supporting people in finding out what they can do in order to succeed.
3. Learning: a broad concept, as learning can take place in different domains, e.g., learning insights, skills, relational and emotional learning,…

Coaching evokes and supports learning in others. These others can be anyone, from teachers, support teachers and other educational professionals at school, to learners and parents, or partners in the local community, like therapists, social workers, psychologists or pedagogues,... In the context of a professional learning community, coaching creates opportunities for reflection and decision-making in and across your team.

Coaching is primarily about the future. As a coach you are therefore just as curious about

• problems that people experience in dealing with diversity or in the cooperation with learners, parents, colleagues or other partners,
• situations where dealing with diversity, inclusion, or interprofessional collaboration is already successful and runs well, and 
• challenges where people want to try something new, develop a new approach or undertake something.

Coaching starts from a strong belief in the other person's learning potential and capacity to solve situations. The starting point is that everyone can learn. Coaching thus starts even before you begin, by reflecting on how you look at the other person. It is not just an unconditional belief that every person can learn. It is also the belief that every teacher or other partner can learn to appreciate diversity and work with others to figure out what works to make the classroom and the school more inclusive. If everyone can continue to learn and develop his or her competencies, you don't have to be perfect as a coach either. If you succeed in getting colleagues to try things out and to sharpen their competences, it often becomes less difficult to find out how you can fill in any missing expertise in the team together.

How do you see yourself, your colleagues and the partners with whom you collaborate? 

On a scale of 1-10, how much do you see yourself as…

• A. Being interested and open
• B. Showing a growth mindset
• C. Believing in life long learning opportunities
• D. Having confidence - staying relaxed that things will work out
• E. Being authentic and sincere
• F. Being transparant and clear
• G. Being trustworthy

1. How could you use these characteristics to support each other in strengthening inclusive learning?
2. What is coaching for you?
3. Have you ever been coached yourself?
4. How do you see a ‘good coach’?
5. What coaching skills do you and your peers have?
6. What would you do as a coach, to strengthen the inclusive competencies of teachers and other colleagues in or around your school?

One of the ProuD To Teach All partners is Leeds Beckett University which hosts CollectivED where work on coaching is continuing to be developed. Below, you can download the short guide to coaching created by CollectivEd during this project.

You can access a wealth of of additional CollectivED resources using their padlet or by registering here.