A to Z
of
PEER
COACHING
INTRODUCTION
Peer coaching is introduced to all participants in the TEACHER2TEACHER programmes offered by the NUT’s CPD Programme. This ‘A to Z of Peer Coaching’ – comprehensive guidance on how to put peer coaching into practice most effectively – is given to participants during the initial seminar of all T2T programmes; but it is also designed to be used independently by teachers.
Peer coaching offers a means by which teachers can deepen their awareness and understanding of:
· what goes on in their classrooms;
· their effectiveness as teachers; and
· their own and their pupils’ learning.
It puts teachers in control of their own professional development, allowing them to ‘start from where they are’. Peer coaching can be used by teachers throughout their careers and applied to any teaching and learning situations. Many of those teachers who have tried it have found it adds to their job satisfaction and can renew their enthusiasm for teaching.
Research suggests that teachers learn most from a combination of support from their peers and specialist support. Peer coaching encourages professional communication and helps teachers to develop a ‘shared language’ about teaching and learning.
Like all professional processes, it is most successful when teachers adapt it to their own needs and circumstances. There are, however, some basic principles which help to establish a climate in which both participants in peer coaching benefit fully. This A to Z, which is based on lessons from a three-year NUT led pilot of peer coaching, sets out those principles and provides frameworks which will help teachers translate those principles into practice.
PRINCIPLES OF PEER COACHING
1. Peer coaching is a professional development process in which teachers agree to participate. Its purpose is to provide a learning opportunity which allows teachers to further develop and share their professional skills, knowledge and understanding. It is particularly beneficial when contextualised within a specific teaching and learning focus – such as trying out a new teaching strategy, or approach to ‘managing’ pupils or introducing a new aspect of the curriculum – and linked to specialist support relevant to that focus.
2. It is based on observation of teachers in the classroom (although can be applied to other aspects of teachers’ work, e.g., taking an assembly or talking with parents). For it to be successful, the teacher to be observed needs to have trust in the observer and feel comfortable about him/her being in the classroom. It is not the intention that the observed teacher should ‘put on a show’ – it is about providing additional shared insights into what normally goes on in the classroom and, therefore, should not create additional work; and, indeed, its outcomes could be used to reduce workload.
3. Peer coaching is a mutual and reciprocal approach during which both partners have the opportunity to observe and to be observed and give and receive feedback. Whatever the positions or relative status of the participants, peer coaching should be a non-hierarchical process in which both partners are focused on receiving and providing professional support.
4. Observation for peer coaching allows information and evidence to be gathered – by someone similarly involved in teaching and learning and who has similar experience of the situation in which a teacher is working – which can then be used to inform feedback to the teacher who has been observed. It is not observation which leads to judgement, assessment or performance monitoring. Nor is it observation for accountability. Peer coaching should be non-judgemental, non-threatening and based on an agenda agreed between participants. Participants need to have confidence about how the information gathered during observation will be used.
5. The main focus of observation and feedback should be decided by the teacher being observed. It is the observed teacher, not the observer, who has the power to take the learning forward. To put this into practice, peer coaching must be preceded by discussion between the teachers involved.
6. Feedback is informed professional dialogue. Interactions between teachers and learners can be interpreted in many ways. The observer’s job is to give the teacher information he/she would not otherwise have in order to maximise his/her choices about what to do. It is not about doing things right or doing things wrong. If feedback builds on self-evaluation and shared exploration of the information provided by the observer, the observed teacher’s own ideas and practice will form a natural springboard for planning future progress.
7. The outcomes of peer coaching are owned by the teachers involved – any recording should be open to both partners and confidential to them.
A PEER COACHING AGREEMENT
There are some common understandings which will help to establish the right ‘climate’ for successful peer coaching.
· The need for support and development is not a sign that teachers’ current practice is deficient – professional development should be an entitlement to all teachers and a regular element of their careers.
· If a teacher is trying to change the way he/she has previously done something or is introducing an unfamiliar teaching strategy, things may get worse before they get better.
· Classrooms are complex – because of how much is going on, there is a risk that observations may become diverse, superficial and random. Observers will need to ignore some things if their observation is to be focused enough to allow meaningful feedback. The aim should be to explore a few things deeply, not ‘cover’ a whole lesson in an inevitably more superficial way.
· Observers may give most attention to issues and practices which are most familiar to them or most like what they do in their classes – a focus agreed prior to observation helps to avoid this.
· Teachers, when talking about their own teaching, often underestimate the complexity of the task and the skills they employ in achieving what they do.
· Observing in a classroom is a privilege and a rich learning experience for the observer – it is an opportunity to witness a very special relationship between a teacher and pupils, and possibly other adults. Unless it is a very extreme situation, the observer should not interfere with that relationship or with what is going on in the classroom. The evidence gathered should not be used for purposes other than those agreed with the observed.
A pre-observation agreement should cover:
· agreed aims and focus of observation/s;
· timing and length of observations – they do not necessarily need to be long, detail is more useful than longer, less focused observations. A well-planned ten minutes may be sufficient;
· a code of conduct for the ‘visiting’ observer teacher – covering matters such as the entry and departure of the observer and the relationship between the observer and the pupils/students;
· acceptable forms of recording/note-taking;
· a guarantee of feedback within a certain time and agreement about where it will take place;
· shared criteria that will be used to analyse observation evidence; and
· confidentiality (including boundaries with other procedures such as performance management).
A FRAMEWORK FOR OBSERVATION (An example)
Peer coaching pairs are urged to be specific about what is to be observed and agree no more than three foci for a professional development orientated observation. The questions below are offered as a planning tool to support teachers prepare for observations.
· When will observation take place? (e.g., lesson start, maths)
· What does the teacher to be observed want to know? (Maximum 3 foci)
· What does he/she want to happen during the observation?
· What will it look like if the teacher is successful in his/her aims? How will he/she and/or the pupils behave?
· What might go wrong? What information would help the observer (and the teacher being observed) identify the obstacles which lead to such things going wrong and when or why they occurred?
· What information can the observer provide that the teacher wouldn’t have access to without observation and feedback?
· What teaching and learning issues are relevant to the observation?
· What information about attitudes, activities and/or outcomes does the observer need prior to the observation about the teacher, pupils or both?
Example of a Basic Recording Sheet for use by Observer – which might, by agreement, be developed by teachers to meet their needs and circumstances as they put peer coaching into practice.
· Focus 1:
Information recorded / Comments and/or questions for feedback· Focus 2:
Information recorded / Comments and/or questions for feedback· Focus 3:
Information recorded / Comments and/or questions for feedbackFEEDBACK – INFORMED PROFESSIONAL DIALOGUE
Feedback following observation is likely to be most effective when it encourages a very full and active contribution from the observed teacher. The role of the observer is to prompt self-evaluation and draw on information and evidence gathered from observation to promote and deepen the observed teacher’s learning and professional development. Feedback is an opportunity for:
· the observer to ‘paint a portrait’ of what he/she has observed (with regard to the ‘focus’ which had been agreed prior to the observation);
· teachers to interpret together the data/evidence collected by the observer;
· the observed teacher to ask for specific feedback;
· the coach to ask open questions to enable the observed teacher to clarify issues and identify options for development; and
· teachers to prepare an action plan together (aspects of which may also be the focus of subsequent observation).
The golden rules for observers in giving feedback are:
· briefly describe what has been observed, based on evidence and asking for clarification where needed;
· encourage the observed teacher to give his/her own perceptions;
· avoid being judgemental but, rather, offer affirmative and constructive comments which separate behaviour from the person and his/her professional identity; and
· generate interactive, probing and developmental dialogue between ‘equals’.
Prompts to promote self-evaluation and interactive discussion might include:
· “Given your intention to ….. (evidence) …… how do you think the lesson went?”
· “When ….. (evidence) …… why do you think that was?”
· “I noticed/observed ..… (evidence) …… how does that match your view?”
· “What do you think would happen if .….?”
· “What have I said that you think makes a positive contribution to your learning?”
· “What would you like me to observe in future?”
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT
As a one-off, peer coaching will have value; but the benefits to teaching and learning will be far greater if it is part of a continuum of professional development.
There is also the potential to build on the skills gained during observation and feedback (by both partners in all four roles) by engaging in further peer coaching – either within the same professional partnership, or by entering into peer coaching agreements with others.
To realise the potential of peer coaching as a professional development tool, it is important for participants to review the process. For example: Did we stick to the focus? Did you feel comfortable when I observed? How much talking did each of us do during feedback? What did we both learn?
Such a review might just be between the participants or it might usefully involve a third party. ‘Triangulation’ could be introduced to peer coaching itself by having two observers in the classroom. Three teachers can then be involved in feedback, allowing comparison of observations and interpretations and adding to the sharing of knowledge and understanding about teaching and learning.
It may also be beneficial to describe the peer coaching process (and the generalised learning outcomes) to other colleagues, say, at a staff meeting. Some teachers have found that peer coaching can support the setting-up of a learning forum where teachers discuss teaching and learning issues and practices within the classroom.
Skills developed during peer coaching are also relevant to processes such as mentoring and other leadership roles; although it is always worth remembering that what distinguishes peer coaching, and makes it such a powerful learning opportunity, is its mutuality within a supportive and non-hierarchical ‘climate’.
For those who wish to reflect further on peer coaching and related professional activities, a reading list is included at the end of this A to Z.
REFERENCES RELATING TO PEER COACHING
Cordingley, P. (2003) A guide to peer observation. GTC(E) or NUT (joint publication)
Gersten, R. (1995) Close to the classroom is close to the bone : coaching as a means to translate research into classroom practice. Journal of Exceptional Children, vol 62, no 1.
Graham, P. et al (Eds) (1999) Teacher/mentor : a dialogue for collaborative learning.
New York : Teachers’ College Press.
Hagger, H., Burn, K. and McIntyre, D. (1995) The school mentor handbook : essential skills and strategies for working with student teachers. Rev. ed. London : Kogan Page.
Kohler, F (1999) Promoting changes in teachers’ conduct of student pair activities : an example of reciprocal peer coaching. Journal of Special Education, vol 33, no 3.
Simpson, M. and Tuson, J. (1995) Using observations in small scale research : a beginner’s guide. Edinburgh : Scottish Council for Research in Education.
Stephenson, J. (Ed) (1997) Mentoring – the new panacea? Dereham, Norfolk : Peter Francis
Three papers based on the process of observation, including the use of video, written by teachers involved in the TTA Consortia Project, for the TTA/DfEE Teacher Research Conference in 2000. These are:
Hopkins, P. The role of video in improving teaching and learning. TTA publications.
Publication no. TPU 0576/2-01. Publication no. TPU 0577/2-01.
Smith, L., Threlfall, J. The nature and benefits of peer observation. TTA publications. Publication no. TPU 0576/2-01.
Vane-es, C., Brealey, S. Teachers working with video to improve their practice and enhance pupil learning. TTA publications. Publication no. TPU 0575/2-01.
Cordingley, P., Bell, M., Rundell, B., Evans, D., (2003) The impact of collaborative CPD on classroom teaching and learning. In Research Evidence Education Library, London: EPPI Centre, Social Research Unit, Institute of Education.
GTC(E) ‘Research of the Month’ feature on the Impact of collaborative CPD on classroom teaching and learning www.gtce.org.uk/research/romhome.asp
4