Don’t Don’t worry? worry?
I was once at a prestigious educational event at a tech company, which I won’t name, put on to wow senior leaders and encourage them to use their products. Halfway through the presentation, the presentation software went down.
Ok, so everyone makes mistakes. We all get let down by tech at some point. That is not the point. What struck me was the apparent lack of concern from anyone in the room. If they aren’t concerned at a showcase event, as a tech company, that their tech doesn’t work, what does it say about their company culture?
In my role, I am literally being paid to worry Trying to anticipate where things might go wrong, and getting aerated about how to fix problems when they arise is actually my job. Teaching can be the same: there is a lot to worry about.
So, if you’re in the habit of worrying about how things could be better, you're probably doing the right thing. It means you care, and that's a whole lot better than the alternative.
You should congratulate yourself.
By Osman Abdullah, Deputy Headteacher The Excelsior Academy
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT: THE HEART OF LIVE COACHING
EXCELSIOR’S COACHING JOURNEY: FROM GENERAL TO SPECIFIC THE COACHING COMPASS: NAVIGATING IMPROVEMENT WITH FEEDBACK
TRUST AND PRACTICALITY: THE FOUNDATIONS OF EFFECTIVE COACHING
A CULTURE OF GROWTH AND COLLABORATION
Imagine walking into a dimly lit room, all eyes on you as the spotlight sharpens its focus For teachers, this is sometimes how it feels when someone steps into their classroom. It’s as if a live performance has begun, and every decision, every word spoken, becomes magnified. Hearts race, throats tighten, and thoughts momentarily vanish as the pressure mounts. But teaching isn’t a stage play, nor should coaching feel like a cold, silent spotlight. Instead, the art of effective coaching requires a steady partnership, where teachers feel guided, supported, and truly understood.
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT: THE HEART OF LIVE COACHING
Educational experts like John
and Andy
have all championed the benefits of continuous, structured feedback. Hattie’s work shows that even small, targeted adjustments can lead to significant impacts on student outcomes. At Excelsior, we’ve embraced this philosophy through live coaching, where realtime feedback supports teachers as they hone their craft. And while we’re proud of how far we’ve come, we know our journey is far from over. Like a marathon, where each step brings us closer to our goal, we aim to refine and improve our coaching practices each term.
EXCELSIOR’S COACHING JOURNEY: FROM GENERAL TO SPECIFIC
At Excelsior, our coaching journey has evolved considerably. Early on, any member of the leadership team could coach any teacher, regardless of subject expertise. This broad approach, though well-intentioned, often lacked the subject-specific feedback that teachers need to thrive. Recognising this gap, we shifted to a more targeted model, pairing teachers with dedicated, subject-focused coaches who work with them consistently throughout the year. This alignment allows coaches to offer richer, more relevant feedback, which strengthens the coachcoachee relationship and creates a more purposeful path for growth.
THE COACHING COMPASS: NAVIGATING IMPROVEMENT WITH FEEDBACK
Think of the coaching process as navigating with a compass. Each piece of feedback serves as a gentle directional adjustment, keeping us on course toward the destination of ‘expert teaching’. Albeit, like any effective journey, feedback from the coachees themselves is critical in helping us recalibrate. Every term, teachers share insights on what aspects of coaching have been most beneficial, where challenges lie, and how the experience could be enhanced. This continuous feedback loop allows us to evolve, keeping our coaching approach fresh, relevant, and responsive to teacher needs.
TRUST AND PRACTICALITY: THE FOUNDATIONS OF EFFECTIVE COACHING
An effective coaching relationship is grounded in trust and clear communication. At Excelsior, our weekly coaching sessions focus on concrete, manageable goals using the “When-Why-By” model, which specifies the context, the outcome, and the specific steps for each action This structured, practical approach encourages teachers to hone their skills with confidence, knowing that they are supported at every turn. Targets are discussed with teachers and where appropriate coachees can direct the coach to which lesson they would like further support in.
A CULTURE OF GROWTH AND COLLABORATION
Excelsior’s journey in live coaching is ongoing, but each step brings us closer to a learning environment where teachers and students alike can thrive. Through evidence based coaching and strong, trusting relationships, teachers are empowered to refine their practice. At its best, live coaching is not about critiquing, it’s about guiding, instructing and growing, together.
As Excelsior continues to build on these foundations, we’re creating classrooms where every moment is an opportunity for transformation and growth, benefiting students through the expertise and enthusiasm of teachers committed to constant improvement.
Hattie, Dylan Wiliam,
Hargreaves
By Joshua Terrelonge, English teacher
Forest Gate Community School
Starting anywhere new is exciting and daunting. The induction programme begins and you brace yourself for all of the information Once it all ends, the best way to describe it is INTENSE However, this is not to be misconstrued in a negative light but rather the contrary Having such high expectations for the staff translates to my standards for the students, ensuring that each lesson students are privy to WHAT they are learning, WHY they are learning it and HOW it will lead them to growth.
EDI Clinics
This is because deliberate practice is the cornerstone of the school. Every Friday an experienced member of staff hosts ‘EDI clinics’ which allows myself and the other new starters to focus on a particular play/aspect of teaching. The school provides short clips labelled as WAGOLLs (What A Good One Looks Like) which showcases a member
of staff executing a particular aspect of teaching to a great degree. Sharing good practice is in the spirit of praise and positively reinforcing members of staff to be consistent in their practice and strive towards expert teaching.
Live coaching
This leads onto the concept of live coaching. This is rewarding as it puts you in a state of self-awarenessultimately recognising that you have the makings of a great teacher and that there are aspects that can be further improved Weekly drops in from your coach is both warm, beneficial and approached with tact Whenever I make a blunder - and I have made my fair share - my coach or an experienced member of staff is there to model, offer practical advice to improve yet still find points of positivity to keep me motivated
FLMOP
Previously, I would have the tendency to outline my instructions for a particular task but run into the same issue time and time again of students immediately asking what to do or that they do not understand During my induction, I learnt frontloading with means of participation (FLMOP) This entails the simple act of making instructions precise and concise by ensuring students know how you want them to complete the task before giving the instruction.
“Remain in golden silence, work independently, you have 5 minutes ready? GO!”
I was amazed to see how effectively it worked; seeing students spring into action transformed my mentor model of providing instructions from then on
FLMOP is a top tool in a teacher’s utility belt to minimise tedious repetition and maximise learning
Final thoughts
The school has an ethos of modelling, reflecting and striving towards teaching expertise
As I am new, although I fall short adjusting and executing the wealth of practices, in the same breath, the breadth of resources and support at my disposal will ensure that as the school shapes and moulds me, I will be on my way towards teaching to my best possible standard and beyond
Access dolphin: www cstdolphin org
Where to get Teach Like a Champion
Every moment in teaching matters. That’s why we don’t wait the traditional 24 hours for feedback on teaching. Or calendar in formal lesson observations. We act in the moment – live. Why ‘get better’ if we can ‘get better faster’, right?
“If you’re not still learning, you’re already dying.” (RyanHoliday,EgoistheEnemy)
In ‘Ego is the Enemy’ by Ryan Holiday, ‘alive time’ is when we actively use our time usefully. This is in contrast to ‘dead time’ which is to spend our time passively. Holiday says we can’t always choose our circumstances in life (or in the classroom…) but we can choose if we make our time ‘alive time’ or ‘dead time’.
Live coaching is one way we make our time ‘alive time’ –stepping in, in the moment, in order to slightly improve our craft, perfectly captures the idea of actively using time usefully. The cumulative effect of incremental improvement over time as a result, is significant.
We’ve explored ways to create a healthy culture for live coaching in our schools and importantly, to create this culture, we make sure we start by doing it (Michael Beer).
You can read more about why we live coach here and ways to live coach here.
Criteria for successful live coaching:
When live coaching is done well:
To the students it looks like team teaching
To the teacher being coached, they believe the coach is invested in their ‘accelerated development’.
LOTS of training for live coaching happens across our schools. It occurred to me though, we haven’t given a lot of attention to how we RECEIVE live coaching. As much as it is on the coach to sensitively and effectively step in on ‘imperfect’ practice when needed, surely, much of the success of live coaching relies on the recipient and how they receive it?
Let’s consider the criteria for successful live coaching again: When live coaching is done well: To the students it looks like team teaching
To the teacher being coached, they believe the coach is invested in their ‘accelerated development’
The response examples on the continuum clearly indicate that the live coaching has not been successful. Neither of the two criteria have been fulfilled – the students will likely pick up on the awkward exchange and the response from the coachee suggests they not only reject the feedback given in that moment and likely do not believe the coach is invested in their development.
Now of course, it could be because of a number of reasons and some perhaps legitimate. I will entertain this for one moment: let’s say the feedback was rubbish. The responses in that continuum, or similar, serve little purpose other than express the annoyance of the coachee and perhaps ‘save face’ – but save face to whom?
Even if it was rubbish feedback, responses like those in the continuum don’t really help anyone – not the coach, students or the coachee.
We’re exploring ‘coachability’ in this article: our capacity to receive and be open to critical feedback, in order to improve in our craft. As much as it is the coach’s responsibility to fulfil the criteria of effective feedback, so too is it the coachee’s; if we don’t believe our coach is invested in our development, and our reaction to their live coaching is likely to show it, it also won’t look like team teaching to the students.
Which brings us to the other end of the coachee continuum:
Raeanne suggests using live coaching as an opportunity: publicly praise, warmly receive, ‘get in sync with each other’ – the success of live coaching, as much as it hangs on the coach, it does too with the coachee.
We are ALL recipients of live coaching at Community Schools Trust (CST). Below are 3 strategies to try when receiving live coaching. If utilised, they will fulfil the criteria for effective live coaching.
First up, here’s a strategy to keep it casual…
If you were live coached, consider where you might place yourself on this helpful ‘coachee continuum’ made by Assistant Headteacher, Raeanne Meade…
ds already know how ong they have”
“Well actually, just bef you came in ”
“They usually do this was about to do that, actually” teaching!
Example:
Coach: Miss, should we get the class to turn and talk beforetheytrytoanswerthisquestion?
Coachee: D’you know what Miss, what a great idea. It will giveusALLachancetobereadywithanideatoshare.
Proceed to use ‘turn and talk’ to correct the ‘imperfect’ practicethecoachhaslivecoachedyoufor.
Here’s one that involves taking advantage of the coach’s subject knowledge – which is great since most of our coaches aresubjectexpertsthisyear:
Example:
Coach: Sir, shall we ask the class to provide more than one reason when discussing who is most to blame for Eva Smith’sdeathinAnInspectorCalls?
Coachee: Good idea. Out of interest, who do you think is most to blame Miss? Here you can use your coach to help youmodelwhatyouexpectfromthestudents.
Proceed to ask for more than one reason in students’ responses – correcting the ‘imperfect’ practice the coach haslivecoachedyoufor.
Finally,mypersonalfavouritestrategy:
Example:
Coach: (also feigning emotion) *gasp – Miss! I am certain I thought you said this task should be in silence…I think I canhearsome–
Coachee: -*gasp – I think you’re right Sir! I think I heard thattoo!(DramaticallyBeSeenLooking).
Proceed to reiterate expectations and correct the ‘imperfect’practicethecoachhaslivecoachedyoufor.
*Of course, you don’t have to be as dramatic as this, but it’s morefunwhenyouare.
Here’s an equally dramatic quote from Holiday to end this piece:
“Your ego screams for people to acknowledge you. But you must do nothing. Take it. Eat it until you’re sick. Endure it. Quietly brush it off and work harder. Play the game. Ignore the noise; for the love of God, do not let it distract you.”
(RyanHoliday,EgoistheEnemy)
Be coachable. Make your time ‘alive time’. Be on the right side of the coachee continuum.
By
Our department consists of an Assistant Headteacher, a Deputy Headteacher and the Head of Department (who’s younger than the other two!), making us quite a dynamic trio We have a range of different experiences and backgrounds within our MFL teaching careers to date. Because of this, MFL-specific coaching has been an invaluable way for us to work closely together to see the department go from strength to strength this year.
“Having someone who knows the subject content inside out offer personalised, informative and constructive advice has been incredible” commented Sam (HOD). The intricacies of teaching MFL can sometimes be misunderstood by nonspecialists, meaning past feedback has been general and more focused on school routines. A focus on how we teach our subject content puts our pupils firstwe improve how we teach a
topic and pupils can make progress quicker.
"Coaching someone you know has a lot of experience or being coached by someone who has less experience could be a bit tricky at first, so we decided to break the ice over a cup of joe!" exclaimed Salim (DHT). And thus began an additional morning routine every Monday at the local café before school, where targets were dissected, and teaching practices shared with a side of croissants and camaraderie.
What made a real impact was how we became acutely aware of our own teaching styles and how differently we all wielded the target language or introduced idioms, for example. It was like peering into a kaleidoscope of pedagogical perspectives, each one offering a unique and valuable insight.
The EDI playbook, our trusty guidebook used by all, made these discussions even more intriguing as we navigated through the different phases, like seasoned explorers charting new territory. It was a seamless fit, like the missing piece of the puzzle we didn't know we needed.
The challenge, however, was finding ways to maximise student progress over time. Having subject-specific targets, not handed down but carefully curated through collaborative discussions, made it deliciously challenging and fun. We didn't want to settle for the obvious routine targets; oh no, we wanted to challenge ourselves, and what better way than to do it with our esteemed colleagues in a healthy, spirited manner!
Samantha Hughes, Head of MFL Waterside Academy
At Community Schools Trust, we have been working hard on working on improving the quality of our live coaching targets. We want them to be subject specific where possible, granular and facilitate success. Here are some exemplary features from each of our schools.
