Coach learning to help teachers learn to enact conceptually rich,student-focused mathematics lessons

The past decade has witnessed a strong, standards-based call for improving what mathematics is taught and how it is taught. In the USA, districts have hired instructional coaches to help teachers shift their teaching from algorithm-based instruction to instruction that is more student-centered and conceptually focused. The purpose of this study was to contribute to the field’s understanding of (a) the specific coaching practices that help teachers enact more conceptual-based forms of instruction; and (b) how coaches learn to enact those practices. Using a design-based implementation research approach, we trained coaches using a particular model for one-on-one coaching (Content-Focused Coaching); the coaches then worked with teachers to plan lessons aligned with the coaching model. Data consisted of videotapes of pre-lesson conferences that were transcribed and coded according to the model. Analyses of 32 coaches’ practice over a 2-year period suggest that each of the three components of our coaching model (attention to student thinking, pedagogy, and mathematics) demonstrated statistically significant improvement over time. An illustrative analysis of five coaching sessions of one coach revealed a progression over five sessions from planning discussions that stayed at the level of general strategies to more specific conversations about teaching a particular task and then to deeper discussions that integrate attention to mathematical concepts, student thinking, and pedagogical moves. We view this delineation of coach learning as an important first step in laying the groundwork for the design of future coach training.

     

Coach Education and Continuing Professional Development: Experience and Learning to Coach

Research over the last decade has demonstrated that it is experience and the observation of other coaches that remain the primary sources of knowledge for coaches. Despite this, coach education and continuing professional development fail to draw effectively on this experience. Using the work of Pierre Bourdieu, this paper attempts to understand how the “art of coaching” can be characterized as structured improvisation and how experience is crucial to structuring coaching practice. An examination of current coach education and assessment demonstrates that coaching practice viewed as a composite of knowledge has not specifically addressed the pervasive influence of experience on coaching practice. Drawing on experiences from the educational field, we examine how coach education and continuing professional development can utilize mentoring and critical reflection to situate learning in the practical experience of coaching.     

Tacit Knowledge in Expert Coaching: Science or Art?

Effective coaching is a mixture of pedagogy and principles of sciences, e.g., motor skill acquisition, sociology, and physiology, often referred to as the science of coaching. Instinctive or intuitive coaching has often been incorrectly viewed as the art of coaching. More important should be how coaches develop knowledge, how they access that knowledge at the appropriate times and how this affects their decision-making process. The study of expert coaches should allow inferences to be drawn from their development and applied to coach education. This article intends to clarify coaching expertise and examine the role of tacit knowledge within coaching. The lack of a clear development pathway for aspiring expert coaches is a clear indicator that the current coach education system needs review. Any effective education system should be based on knowledge and understanding rather than mimicry and the implications for the future of coach education are considered.     

Knowledge Construction and Personal Relationship: Insights About a UK University Mentoring and Coaching Service

This article examines interview data from 12 mentors/coaches and eight of their clients in order to explore a mentoring and coaching service among UK university staff. Both mentors/coaches and clients were administrative or academic employees of the Institute of Education or affiliated colleges at London University, UK. Their roles related to the administration for, or leadership of, teaching programs as well as educational research and consultancy projects pursued by the institute. The mentors/coaches in this service aimed to construct or co‐construct knowledge with their clients rather than to transmit advice to them. The author explores the learning of mentors/coaches and clients, conceptualizing their “co‐construction” of knowledge as either collaborative construction or as participation. She examines the link between the construction of knowledge and personal relationship, considering the personal relationship both of mentor/coach with clients, and among mentors/coaches themselves. Additionally, the author draws on the divide between functional and personal. She concludes by considering implications from the findings about mentoring and coaching. Emphasized is their potential to play a subversive role within the established functional systems of an institution, if mentoring and coaching prioritize personal relationship.     

Coaching doctoral students – a means to enhance progress and support self-organisation in doctoral education

In this paper we focus on individual coaching carried out by an external coach as a new pedagogical element that can impact doctoral students’ sense of progress in doctoral education. The study used a mixed-methods approach in that we draw on quantitative and qualitative data from the evaluation of a project on coaching doctoral students. We explore how coaching can contribute to the doctoral students’ development of a broad set of personal competences and suggest that coaching could work as a means to engender self-management and improve relational competences. The analysis of the participants’ self-reported gains from coaching show that doctoral students experience coaching as an effective method to support the doctoral study process. This study also provides preliminary empirical evidence that coaching of doctoral students can facilitate the doctoral study process so that the doctoral students experience an enhanced feeling of progress and that they can change their study behaviour in a positive direction. The study discusses the difference between coaching and supervision, for instance power imbalances and contrary to earlier research into coaching of doctoral students this study indicates that coaching can impact the supervisor–student relationship in a positive way.     

Research results of two personal learning environments experiments in a higher education institution

This paper focuses on institutionally powered personal learning environments (iPLEs). The concept of the iPLE can be seen as a way universities can incorporate learner-centred approach into the architecture of their technology-enhanced learning environments. The aim of this paper is to pose that there are other ways to learn complementary to virtual learning environments, such as using distributed Web 2.0 tools from personal learning environments (PLEs). With that aim in mind, this paper presents an exploratory study with two different iPLE configurations, analyses how they modify the learning–teaching process, and reports their perceived usefulness from the students' point of view. These two case studies were carried out by a research group of educational technology from a Spanish university in graduate and postgraduate courses. As reported by other case studies, the results revealed that students use the environment basically in the academic context and this usage is conceived as another time and effort requiring task. This fact can be observed in the low level iPLEs customization. The overall conclusions we can extract are, on the one hand, that the new environment to integrate informal and formal learning should be flexible and adaptable to the student's needs and preferences and, on the other hand, that academic tools might someday become personal tools.     

Antecedents and Consequences of Coaching Behavior

Proponents of the learning organization acknowledge that leaders and managers must assume roles as coaches in organizations that aspire to become learning organizations. The concept of the manager as coach is becoming increasingly popular as a way to facilitate learning and improve employee performance. Yet, despite the research that has been done on coaching, studies generally focus on characteristics of good coaches, requisite coaching skills, and employees' perceptions of the improvement in managers' coaching skills following such training programs. This article describes some of the findings from a larger qualitative critical incident study. Specifically, the triggers for coaching and the outcomes of coaching interventions for the individual employee, manager, and organization are examined and reported here. This study identifies gaps and discrepancies, political, and developmental issues as the primary triggers for coaching. Additionally, this study suggests that managers' commitment to coaching has the potential to impact performance at the individual employee, manager, and organizational level.     

What can be learned from action learning coaching? Learnings of novice action learners and their coach

Action learning coaching (ALC), a form of action learning that integrates leadership coaching, is suggested as a method and ethos to build future capacity, specifically in novice HRD practitioners. The purpose of this article is to offer an account of learning from the perspectives of novice action learners, who were new to the field of human resource development (HRD) and to the concept of ALC, as well as their similarly noviced coach. Data from budding practitioners and their coach, participants in an action learning action research (ALAR) study, are analyzed to show how they used action and generative learning through ambiguity to apply learning to their new roles. Action learning coaching elevated participants’ skills, self-concept, efficaciousness, professionalism, commitment to action, and capacity for learning and growth. Participants changed themselves, their practice, and ultimately the way they approached human resource development as novices.     

Exploring coaching actions based on developed values: a case study of a female hockey coach

There are few empirical studies that demonstrate how values are developed and how they are linked to coaching actions. There can be a discrepancy between the statement of coaches’ values and their actual coaching actions. In order to examine how coaching actions are influenced by values that are developed over a lifetime, the purpose of this article is to first describe a female hockey coach’s approach to coaching using five key coaching actions, then identify the underlying values that influenced those actions, and then explore how these values were developed in different experiences throughout her life. A time-oriented network analysis was conducted based on four semi-structured, in-depth interviews with the coach. The results present five key coaching actions: (a) organizing coach education programmes for athletes, (b) creating groups to help athletes bond, (c) bringing in experts from various domains, (d) asking athletes to reflect on attitudes and goals, and (e) giving athletes playing time based on hard work and effort. We identify the core values guiding these actions as: (a) equity, (b) connectedness, (c) holistic development, (d) respect, and (e) effort. Finally, we present a number of the coach’s experiences that demonstrate the complexity of developing these values throughout her life. The importance of reflecting on and discussing coaching actions, experiences, and the underlying learned values may help coaches develop coaching actions that are guided more explicitly by those values.     

“I thought we were supposed to learn how to become better coaches”: developing coach education through action research

ABSTRACT

Youth coaches play a crucial role in the development of young athletes and their physical, psychological and social well-being. Therefore, it is important to foster and develop youth coaches’ ability to govern and act effectively in their coaching practices. Sports organisations facilitate the development of youth coaches through formal coach education. However, research has shown this to be with limited effect. The purpose of this action research study was to involve youth coaches in developing a new and more effective coach education practice.

The coaches developed their practices through both dialogue and reflection with each other. A shift in the mindset of the coaches resulted in a more reflective and analytical approach in their way of thinking and talking about their practices. The most effective tools for improving the coach educational practice was the active management of the relations between the participating coaches and assisting the coaches’ reflection and dialogue through the use of scaffolding. In order to engage coaches in the educational practice, alignment between coaches’ expectations and both course content and form was crucial. These findings provide further insight into how coaches can develop their practices and how sports organisations can develop more effective coach education practices.     

Antecedents and Consequences of Coaching Behavior

Proponents of the learning organization acknowledge that leaders and managers must assume roles as coaches in organizations that aspire to become learning organizations. The concept of the manager as a coach is becoming increasingly popular as a way to facilitate learning and improve employee performance. Yet, despite the research that has been done on coaching, studies generally focus on characteristics of good coaches, requisite coaching skills, and employees' perceptions of the improvement in managers coaching skills following such training programs. This article describes some of the findings from a larger qualitative critical incident study. Specifically, the triggers for coaching and the outcomes of coaching interventions for the individual employee, manager, and organization are examined and reported here. This study identifies gaps and discrepancies, political, and developmental issues as the primary triggers for coaching. Additionally, this study suggests that managers' commitment to coaching has the potential to impact performance at the individual employee, manager, and organizational level.     

What Happens During Language and Literacy Coaching? Coaches’ Reports of Their Interactions With Educators

Research Findings: This study investigated coaches’ interactions with educators in the context of a large-scale, state-implemented literacy professional development (PD). We examined log data and open-comment reports to understand what coaches found salient about their interactions with educators as well as how those reports aligned with the initial design of the PD. Coaches reported spending a large proportion of their interactions with educators completing administrative tasks. Our findings also indicate that coaches disproportionally targeted instructional content from the PD while also adding unrelated instructional content to their coaching. Although coaches reported focusing on relationship building, they reported using less efficacious coaching strategies (e.g., observation and discussion) more frequently than coaching strategies demonstrated to be more efficacious (e.g., modeling and coteaching). Practice or Policy: Our findings suggest an explanation for the mixed evidence around coaching, as coaches in the study seemed to move beyond the specifications of the PD in their coaching interactions. This work has implications for the design of PD for both improving coach training and allowing some flexibility to meet educators’ learning needs that may be secondary to the content of the PD. Findings also support the need for more nuanced mechanisms for investing in coaching and coaching outcomes.     

Coaching college students in the development of positive learning dispositions: A randomized control trial embedded mixed-methods study

Enhancing college students' learning habits, attitudes, and capacities have been an important research topic in educational psychology. In this study, we designed, implemented, and evaluated a coaching program that integrated mindful agency coaching and motivational interviewing for the development of positive learning dispositions in college students. A randomized control trial embedded mixed-methods design was employed. The quantitative phase with two experimental groups showed that the intervention group (n = 24) showed significant improvement in mindful agency, self-efficacy, learning motivation, and emotional intelligence after the coaching, compared with the control group (n = 30). The qualitative phase with students in the intervention group (n = 15) revealed five themes: Task orientation, motivational management, openness and acceptance, self-awareness and self-regulation, and supporting factors for coaching. Integrated findings demonstrated whether and how coaching could be a promising approach to enhancing college students' various positive dispositions that are essential for them to be mindful, resilient, and self-directed learners.     

Working with a Critical Friend: A Self-study of Executive Coaching

This article examines the learning by a dean of education through the process of executive coaching. In adopting a self-study approach to explore the experience of executive coaching, we draw on the notion of critical friendship as a way of interrogating the experience and the response to that experience in terms of leadership development and professional growth. We used data from audio-recordings of individual coaching sessions to construct vignettes designed to capture the essence of particular themes and issues germane to the learning through the coaching experiences. The major findings pertain to the notion of default behaviours and show how recognition of one's own default behaviours is important in shifting personal practice. The study opens up for scrutiny important aspects of the nature of the personal side of leading a faculty of education and offers insights into what it means to be a learner as a leader and how productive self-study can be in facilitating that learning process.     

A Case for Coach Garfinkel: Decision Making and What We Already Know

The purpose of this article is to deconstruct the decision-making processes of sports coaches through the writings of the sociologist Harold Garfinkel. Specifically, the authors draw upon Garfinkel’s (1967) writings on jurors’ decision making to challenge current cognitivist bound conceptualization to better interpret coaches’ sense-making–why and how they make their decisions. The significance of the work lies in further deciphering the meaningful structures of daily coaching lives; within whose limits coaching decisions unfold. Following a brief review of literature related to coaches’ decision making, the principal tenets of Garfinkel’s work are outlined. This gives way to an examination of Erving Goffman’s (1974) work of “frames of reference” in terms of how coaches’ decision making can be developed and improved before a reflective conclusion summarizes the main points made and their implications for future coach education.     

Insights into teacher learning about pedagogy from an international group of teachers of students with severe intellectual disabilities

This article examines teacher professional learning about pedagogy for teachers of students with severe intellectual disabilities within broader teacher education and pedagogical frameworks for this group of learners. The article presents and discusses findings from a USA–England research project, involving classroom observations and interviews with nine teachers of students with severe intellectual disabilities from four specialist public school settings, intended to explore teachers’ pedagogical decision-making and learning. The theoretical lens of situated learning and the conceptual lens of evidence-based practice are used to contextualise and examine the teachers’ views about the what, how and when they learn about pedagogical approaches and strategies. Teachers emphasised the situated and interactional nature of their learning, particularly highlighting the personal responses of students and their relationship with these students. They use this knowledge and understanding to adapt evidence-based strategies and programmes and inform their pedagogical decisions. This affords the concepts of ‘situated generalization’ and ‘practice based evidence’ an influential role in how teachers engage in the process of pedagogical decision-making. An implication for teacher educators is the need to support teachers in making connections of new pedagogical understandings and skills with the individual learning profiles and responses of their students with severe intellectual disabilities.     

A coaching intervention for college students with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

In this article we describe coaching as an intervention for college students with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Coaching college students with ADHD empowers individuals to organize and execute their responsibilities, both in academia and in everyday life. With the assistance of a coach, individuals with ADHD can create structure and execute change by identifying strategies that circumvent their deficits in executive functioning. We also present an example of a representative client to illustrate the methods used in coaching. Given the increased risks facing college students with ADHD, coaching is a useful complement to academic advising and intensive therapy. Our discussion includes obstacles to implementing and evaluating an ADHD coaching intervention. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 42: 647–656, 2005.     

What can moment-by-moment learning curves tell about students’ self-regulated learning?

Many students in primary education learn arithmetic using adaptive learning technologies (ALTs) on tablets every day. Driven by developments in the emerging field of learning analytics, these technologies adjust problems based on learners' performance. Yet, until now it is largely unclear how students regulate their learning with ALTs. Hence, we explored how learners regulate their effort, accuracy and learning with an ALT using moment-by-moment learning curves. The results indicated that moment-by-moment learning curves did reflect students’ accuracy and learning, but no associations with effort were found. Immediate drops were associated with high prior knowledge and suboptimal learning. Immediate peaks were associated with robust learning and pointed to effective student regulation. Close multiple spikes showed moderate learning and lower initial levels of accuracy but, with system support, these students seemed able to regulate their learning. Separated multiple spikes indicated reduced learning and accuracy and potentially signal the inability of students to regulate their learning. In this light, moment-by-moment learning curves seem to be valuable indicators of accuracy regulation during learning with ALTs and could potentially be used in interventions to support SRL with personalized visualizations.