a guide for education professionals Roger Pask Barrie Joy Pask & Joy www.openup.co.uk Cover design Hybert Design • www.hybertdesign.com mentoring-coaching a guide for education professionals This book explores the principles behind successful mentoring-coaching in education. As well as highlighting the many benefits of mentoring- coaching, it addresses highly practical issues such as: ◗ Can anyone learn to be a mentor-coach? ◗ What behaviour counts as mentoring-coaching? ◗ How do I know what to do, in what order and how? ◗ What are the potential benefits? ◗ What pitfalls might there be and how might these be avoided? ◗ What is the support structure for the process? The book features a model which helps to create successful mentoring- coaching activity in education and sets out a clear path along which to proceed. It describes appropriate behaviours and includes examples of questions that might be used. The authors examine specific techniques and raise the kinds of questions that practitioners themselves need to consider at each stage of the simple and easy-to-memorise model. Arranged in two parts, the first part of the book encourages you to practise the skills and stages of the model that it describes and the second part explores your developing practice in greater depth. Mentoring-Coaching is valuable reading for leaders, managers and practitioners at all levels in education. Barrie Joy was formerly Director of Mentoring-Coaching and Senior Consultant at the London Centre for Leadership in Learning, Institute of Education, University of London, UK. Roger Pask was formerly Head of Research and Consultancy at the London Centre for Leadership in Learning, Institute of Education, University of London, UK. Mentoring-Coaching A guide for education professionals Mentoring-Coaching A guide for education professionals Roger Pask and Barrie Joy Open University Press McGraw-Hill Education McGraw-Hill House Shoppenhangers Road Maidenhead Berkshire England SL6 2QL email: enquiries@openup.co.uk world wide web: www.openup.co.uk and Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121-2289, USA First published 2007 Copyright © Roger Pask and Barrie Joy 2007 All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd of Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London, EC1N 8TS. A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library ISBN-13 978 0 335 22538 5 (pb) 978 0 335 22539 2 (hb) ISBN-10 335 22538 1 (pb) 0 335 22539 X (hb) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data CIP data applied for Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk Printed in the UK by Bell and Bain Ltd, Glasgow Contents Acknowledgements vii PART 1 Mentoring-coaching: about this book 1 1 The term ‘mentoring-coaching’ and the model 7 2 Getting started 17 3 Stage 1: context 26 4 Stage 2: issues 40 5 Stage 3: responsibility 52 6 Stage 4: future 58 7 Stage 5: deciding 70 8 Stage 6: action 76 9 Evidence 85 PART 2 Digging deeper 93 10 How clever does a mentor-coach need to be? 97 11 Dialogue 111 12 Empathy 118 13 Images in the mind 130 14 Chains of meaning 139 15 Challenge versus collusion 154 16 Creating a mentoring-coaching culture 167 17 Finding, making and taking the role 186 18 Child, parent or adult? 198 19 Building capacity on success 210 20 Mentoring-coaching as learning 220 21 Mentoring-coaching in leading-managing 232 22 The crucial hyphen 245 References 249 Index 253 vi MENTORING-COACHING: A GUIDE FOR EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS Acknowledgements The insights that have led to the writing of this book have been generated in a number of ways that the writers wish to acknowledge. They have come from two main sources. The first is the stream of thinking developed by writers and researchers over a period of more than a hundred years. The second main source is comprised of colleagues with whom the writers have worked and who have been willing to share their thinking and practice in a spirit of generosity that has made working in this field extremely rewarding. The research and writing upon which the contents of this book have drawn divide broadly into three main streams, two of which have merged in recent times. These two have been concerned mainly with the field of educa- tion – in particular with the fascinating subject of human learning – and the linked issues of leadership and management. A full list of all the texts on both subjects from which this writing has drawn is included in the references. It is important however to give prominence in these acknowledgements to the writing of David Kolb, and to the writing and personal influence of Chris Watkins at the Institute of Education, London University. For a while Chris was doctoral supervisor for one of the authors and over a longer period has been an influential colleague for both writers. He has been a mentor-coach in the true sense of posing questions that have made us think – including the seminal question of what is meant by the word ‘learning’. Equally influential on the subject of leadership has been the extensive writing of Michael Fullan. The third stream may have begun with the theses of Sigmund Freud who probed beneath the surface of human consciousness. He not only developed the discipline of psychoanalysis practically from scratch but also began a trail of thinking that led via Carl Rogers and others through the emergence of psychotherapy and counselling to the work of Gerard Egan. This book owes a debt to Egan and to the whole concept of ‘the helper’ articulated in depth and considerable detail in The Skilled Helper (2002). The London Leadership Centre was introduced to the work of Egan by Ann Dering from the Centre for Educational Leadership in Manchester. It was Ann who showed how relevant Egan’s work could be in the field of educational leadership, and upon whose applications this book has considerably expanded. Many other strands of thinking flowed from Freud’s work that have threaded their way into this book. They include the work of David McClelland and of Daniel Goleman, whose work on social motives and emotional intelligence competencies has been applied to the process of mentoring- coaching. Lastly, in this web of writing is the seminal research by Umberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, and the highly readable thesis of Antonio Damasio. Both these works explore the foundations of human consciousness and supplement the thinking of Carl Rogers on what it might mean to be truly human. There is a further substantial group of people to whom this book owes a debt. It includes all those people – numbering around two or three thousand – who have participated in learning about mentoring-coaching on courses that have been offered by the London Centre for Leadership in Learning and elsewhere around the country. Their active participation in the process of thinking through what it might mean to enter a mentoring-coaching relation- ship has been part of the extensive research process that has helped shape what is written in the pages that follow. Similarly, people with whom members of the Centre’s team have worked as mentor-coaches have caused us to think deeply about the uniqueness of each new such relationship. Sometimes this has provided a high level of emotional, social and intellectual challenge. Most importantly it has also generated deep affirmation of the power and value of the process. The book also owes a considerable debt to all those colleagues – num- bering around twenty at the Centre and many more through the National College for School Leadership – with whom we have worked as co-facilitators on courses in mentor-coaching or the closely related courses on client-centred or process consultancy. A particular contribution has been made by Kay Bedford, Head of Swiss Cottage Special School in London. Kay has contributed a great deal of thinking to the course. She has also exemplified some of the critical skills involved in mentoring-coaching and, perhaps most importantly, has demonstrated on a day-to-day basis in her school at all levels, including work by her staff among pupils with acute special needs – how a culture of mentoring-coaching can be developed in an organization, and how, in such a culture, highly effective leadership and management can impact to amazingly positive effect within an organization. Her paper setting out the process of developing this culture – a continuing story – is included as a case study in Chapter 16. All those who have co-facilitated these courses have brought their own ideas and their own skills as leaders of learning and these have often been woven into the fabric of the programmes that have been delivered in order to respond to the learning needs of particular groups of participants. Pat Clark and Howard Kennedy – senior staff at the London Leadership Centre – made major contributions to the early form of the course programme. Four facilita- tors, who have made a significant impact upon the shape of courses since then and upon the thinking of this book, are Julia Harper, Carol Raphael, Janet Wallace and Simon Williams. Carol’s work in reading drafts of this book, in viii MENTORING-COACHING: A GUIDE FOR EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS questioning parts of the meaning in order to generate greater readability and greater clarity and in helping to uncover deeper levels of thinking, has been especially valuable. Finally, most of the work that has led to the development of the thinking that informs this book was undertaken under the auspices of the London Leadership Centre – now the London Centre for Leadership in Learning, Institute of Education, London University. The administrative team sup- porting that work have patiently accepted the need to collect and collate research and to reprocess many new versions of the materials used on courses in mentoring-coaching. They have given form to the expression of the thinking as it has evolved. None of that work would have been possible without the approval and support of the Founding Director of the London Leadership Centre, Dame Patricia Collarbone and her successor, Strategic Director of the London Centre for Leadership in Learning and Pro-Director of the Institute of Education, Leisha Fullick. Throughout the development of the course and the evolution of the model we have drawn extensively on the patience and commitment of three succes- sive administrators at LCLL – Jackie Barry, Erin Downey and Ruth Daglish. None of what has been achieved in the field and in this book would have been possible without them. As the book has neared publication the authors have been very conscious of the patient and effective support of staff of McGraw- Hill/Open University Press, and in particular the guidance and help of Fiona Richman – without whose support this book would not have been published. As with all projects like serious writing there are personal partners and families to whom a debt is owed – of patience, encouragement and support. Attention due to them has had to be sacrificed to give time to the research and drafting that has led to the completion of this text. Without such encouragement and active support this book would not have been written. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix [...]... PART 1 Mentoring-coaching: About this Book This book is about mentoring-coaching It shows how mentoring and coaching are so inseparably linked that they are best viewed as a single process Hence the hyphen Research has indicated that there is much for organizations to gain by building mentoring-coaching into the daily practice of leaders and managers at all levels and in all kinds of organization... client may have wants but there are also expectations by others These may even include contracts of an informal and formal kind So to focus, for example, on the work/professional situation and (to aid thinking) on a specific role as an example, a subject leader in a school is contracted to carry out certain duties in exchange for which she receives remuneration There may be issues that present a challenge... that a coach is someone needed by those who currently perform poorly, or ‘underperform’ (whatever that may mean) is equally bemusing – and potentially damaging It may be worth taking another look at what is meant by the word ‘experienced’ There can clearly be numerous benefits for a newly qualified teacher 18 MENTORING-COACHING: A GUIDE FOR EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS (or doctor, solicitor, company executive,... an organization or part of a system is wanting to impose a mentor-coaching arrangement on a putative client believed to be failing in some significant way Worse still would be a situation where it was made clear to the client that this arrangement was a plan of last resort, whereby a capability procedure is threatened if the mentor-coach cannot bring about a big improvement in the performance of the... as intellectually and emotionally – for mentor-coach and for client In general, a session should last for a maximum of 50 to 60 minutes, and a judgement may need to be made as to an appropriate point in the encounter to break The stage reached in the model may sometimes provide a useful guide Layout of the room The furniture layout should also be given some thought This is not always at the disposal... father/mother/brother/sister/aunt, neighbour, or team member/leader at work It may be as a particular professional – a class or subject teacher, a department leader, senior staff member, head teacher, adviser, consultant, inspector, director and so on (though doctor, teacher, solicitor, estate agent, salesperson, for example, would be equally relevant roles) It’s not just a question of defining the role either It is equally about... managed effectively with the necessary level of mutual awareness, but they increase the level of challenge for both parties and are therefore better avoided, especially in the period in which the mentorcoach is establishing his/her practical skills GETTING STARTED 19 A voluntary and equal relationship Equally, trust is something that cannot develop easily in a climate of compulsion Organizations that... about it.) Although no structured research has been carried out so far into its applicability in, for example, personal, social and family contexts, there is a deal of anecdotal evidence from people who have tried to apply the model and especially the associated skills in such contexts Many testify that the model works in a variety of situations Even more claim that the skills associated with practice... of people from a wide range of backgrounds who have taken part in this programme runs into thousands The standard course is of three days duration, at the end of which most participants can begin to implement the model and develop the essential skills through thoughtful and self-analytical practice The book is intended to serve as an aid to memory for such participants and an anchor for some of the... of its genesis from education in the formal sense Those who have been trained in the use of the model advocated frequently claim a profound impact from it upon all kinds of relationships, both professional and personal In this sense it is truly generic It can help readers to 6 MENTORING-COACHING: A GUIDE FOR EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS regain some of that ground of our humanity that has been occupied in . practice in greater depth. Mentoring-Coaching is valuable reading for leaders, managers and practitioners at all levels in education. Barrie Joy was formerly. London, UK. Mentoring-Coaching A guide for education professionals Mentoring-Coaching A guide for education professionals Roger Pask and Barrie Joy Open University