Diversifying Coaching in Education – A Funded Opportunity for the #DiverseEd Community to Train to Coach
Written by Yasmin Ariff
Yasmin Ariff is a Partner and Director of Education at the CVP Group. CVP Group specialise in professional coaching training for managers and business leaders. They create coaching cultures across UK organisations, supported by the National Apprenticeship Service.
I wish I’d found coaching earlier in my teaching career. It has made me a better person on so many levels. But it came at a cost. Having invested £8000 of my own money into coaching training, it’s fair to say, although it’s been worth it, it also broke the bank balance.
It made we wonder whether coaching would ever be a truly diverse and inclusive profession when only those with a higher-than-average income could afford the training. Even hiring a coach can cost around £100 per hour.
So, how can we, as leaders, democratise coaching in Education?
How can we create a pool of coaches that represent the diverse backgrounds of our Educators?
If only there was a government-funded training programme for aspiring coaches that removed the barrier of cost…
If only there was a coaching training programme that promoted and included a range of diverse educators…
Look no further!
CVP Group and #DiverseEd are partnering to deliver a funded training programme in October 2024 for aspiring coaches in England.
To apply, you will need to complete this #DiverseEd EOI and they will then send you the CVP ROI with the #DiverseEd Referral Code.
Introducing the Level 5 Coaching Professional Apprenticeship
Our unique approach supporting aspiring and existing diverse leaders will support you to:
- engage with your workforce
- promote active listening skills
- deepen your understanding of what motivates teams
- improve staff retention
- support other aspiring or existing diverse leaders
The 12 month apprenticeship programme is delivered online including an End Point Assessment.
The Level 5 Coaching Professional Apprenticeship enables learners to work towards a nationally recognised qualification that meets coaching professional body standards (ICF, EMCC and Association of Coaching). The coaching professional standard has been created by leading organisations with existing coaching cultures and expertise in leadership.
Figure 1. Organisations who created the coaching standard
In a group dedicated solely to Diverse Educators, you will cover coaching disciplines such as:
- how to plan and structure coaching sessions;
- cognitive behaviour techniques to reframe limiting beliefs;
- principles of neurolinguistic programming;
- schools of psychology such as Carl Rogers, Gestalt and Freud;
- leadership theory and change management;
- managing and celebrating diversity in your coaching practice;
- ethics and professional codes of conduct for coaches as well as how to demonstrate return on investment to stakeholders.
Over 12 months you will be provided with the tools you need to create a coaching model tailored to organisational needs.
Our #DiverseEd cohort will also have the unique opportunity to attend additional #DiverseEd sessions with Hannah Wilson to explore diversity, equity and inclusion in coaching further.
Figure 2. The Coaching Learning Journey
The apprenticeship requires the application of coaching skills in the workplace which will be tailored to fit into your day-to-day job role. Coaching apprentices will receive wrap around support throughout the year so they can apply their coaching skills in the workplace. Many of our current apprentices are using their coaching skills to develop different aspects of education such as:
- teaching and learning
- behaviour and attitudes
- well-being and leadership.
Ongoing careers guidance and support for apprentices includes attending a range of webinars delivered by expert coaches which demonstrate how your coaching skills support career advancement. In addition, there will be plenty of opportunities to develop personally through CVP’s well-being events, an online community and learning forum as well as your bespoke personal development plan, including an opportunity to win our Easter fitness hamper with CVP’s annual spring into fitness competition.
The #DiverseEd Coaching Community
We are building a #DiverseEd coaching community which will be the first of its kind.
We know the current coaching landscape in Education is not representative of the leaders it serves so we want to upskill educators as coaches in our community to empower each other.
CVP Coaching apprentices will be the first to pilot a funded coaching programme for the #DiverseEd community, where CVP coaching apprentices will have an opportunity to join the #DiverseEd Coaching directory.
The inaugural cohort will run October 2024 and we anticipate that places will be in high demand.
What Attendees are Saying About Us
Here’s what our current trainee coaches have to say about the programme:
“This course has been the perfect opportunity to keep learning and development at the heart of what I’m doing. It’s extremely well organised and resourced. Yasmin’s care, expertise and passion ensures we as the participants are motivated and supported every step of the way.”
Claire, Senior Leader Education.
“Great session, the demonstration where we got to see it in action was really powerful to have that practical example. It is about simple steps being done well. You have to learn the art (which can be complex) and then not let it cloud your basic best practice.”
Apprentice, Masterclass 2.
“The level 5 professional coaching course was thoroughly enjoyable and purposeful. I refined skills that were instantly transferable to the workplace but also deepened my reflective practice to understand how my own principles surface at work. I felt fully prepared going into to EPA and confident enough to show off my portfolio. Lots of elements in the portfolio I still use in my coaching sessions today. The course complemented full-time employment in education and didn’t seem too laborious as all the tasks seemed purposeful.”
Rosie, Assistant Headteacher
Join Us in October 2024!
To be eligible for funding you must meet the following criteria:
- Work 16 hours or more per week;
- Have lived in the UK / EU for 3 years or more prior to enrolment;
- Spend over 50% of your working week in England;
- Have a contract of employment.
Are you interested but not in employment? Do you live outside England? We are pleased to open this programme to diverse leaders beyond England on a self-funded basis. If you would like to have a conversation with one of the team at CVP Group to find out more, reach out to sarah@cvpgroup.co.uk
What Next?
Whether you have made your mind up or would just like to find out more about the course content, please complete the Register of Interest Form that #DiverseEd will send you and our coaching engagement team will contact you to set up a meeting.
I will be delivering a large part of the programme. With over 20 years’ experience in schools, I am looking forward to reconnecting with leaders to create powerful coaching cultures in schools.
To find out more about my own journey as a leader in education, visit my website here.
A Class Apart
Written by Dr Teresa Crew
Dr Teresa Crew SFHEA is a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy with research interests relating to various social inequalities. More specifically Dr Crew's research explores the barriers faced by working class people in education. She is the author of the book "Higher Education and Working Class Academics: Precarity and Diversity in Academia" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020) which examined the experiences of working class academics. Her second book, “The Intersections of a Working Class Academic Identity. A Class Apart”, will be published by Emerald in July 2024.
The echo of footsteps resonating through university hallways often carries with it a narrative of unearned advantage. This is in stark contrast to the uphill climb some have faced just to set foot on these grounds. For many working class academics (WCAs) like myself, each step reflects complex feelings of taking pride in rising above class constraints combined with a persistent sense of unease that we do not fully belong within these elite spaces. Far from being unique, this reveals that despite loud diversity rhetoric, quiet biases continue obstructing the WCA experience.
My extensive research incorporating over 250 interviews and surveys WCAs across the UK over the past 5 years reveals systemic barriers continue to make academia an inhospitable environment for many scholars from disadvantaged backgrounds. Nearly 75% faced ingrained classism subtly woven through campus culture via small slights eroding confidence in belonging. These obstacles are likely deterring talented potential working class scholars from pursuing academic careers.
Classist microaggressions served as the ever present undercurrent with manifestations ranging from derogatory comments questioning their credentials and mocking regional accents. Women endured layered inequities – both gender and class biases. Unpaid service tasks consumed valuable time otherwise dedicated to scholarly writing necessary for advancement, reflecting embedded biases limiting their mobility. Ethnic minority WCAs encountered underrepresentation and racialised stereotypes that questioned their intellectual capacity, coupled with the assumption that their presence was simply a result of diversity initiatives rather than merit.
My research also exposed profound institutional fractures at the intersection of class and disability. Participants recounted struggles to obtain reasonable adjustments. This disregard for individual needs was particularly harmful for those reliant on precarious incomes, as the absence of family wealth amplifies their vulnerability.
Our lived experiences offer a crucial counterpoint highlighting how WCAs display remarkable resilience, strong “aspirational capital” and determination. WCAs typically serve as mentors, role models, and support systems for many marginalised students. We offer innovative teaching methods and curricular interventions aimed at uplifting excluded voices and dismantling entrenched hierarchies. These interventions, informed by lived experiences at the margins, adds unique depth and insight to WCA scholarship, making us invaluable assets that enrich the tapestry of academic discourse.
Despite our remarkable resilience and talent, WCAs often find their potential curtailed rather than nurtured. Hiring discrimination, promotion bias, and precarious employment create significant hurdles, constructing invisible yet potent barriers to curtail our career advancement. Overburdened workloads and the absence of tailored support networks further exacerbate these challenges, creating a “chilly climate” within academia that often discourages many WCAs from reaching their full potential.
We must actively dismantle these barriers by challenging entrenched structures and disrupting the harmful effects of classist practices that erode individual aspirations and stifle working class potential. This demands bold, systemic change.
Key areas of action include:
- #MakeIt10. To create real equal opportunities, we must end unfair treatment based on an individual’s social class background and add social class as a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010
- WCAs need stable employment with living wages, enforceable rights, and consistent hours.
- Targeted career development programmes and mentoring specifically for WCAs.
These strategic interventions, informed by the powerful narratives of WCAs navigating the system, hold the key to unlocking the transformative potential of an inclusive academia. Only then can we ensure that knowledge and empowerment reach all corners of society, shaping a future where the collective brilliance of diverse minds, regardless of background, can truly flourish.
Open doors, Unequivocal mirrors, Pellucid windows
Written by Utha Vallade
Monday to Friday, Utha is an Associate Assistant Principal, leading on Raising Standards, Assessment and Reporting in an inner London secondary school. On Saturdays, she works as the co-headteacher of an all-through Saturday supplementary school. Passionate about supporting other educators on their leadership journey, in her not so spare time, Utha contributes to Step Up Network and leads on Partnerships, Diversity, Equality. Inclusion and Belonging.
As a dedicated senior leader working in a comprehensive, inner London secondary school, my journey in leadership has been defined by a commitment to continuous personal growth and professional development. Recently, I had the unique opportunity to shadow a headteacher working in a different school setting. My objective was to immerse myself in the daily responsibilities and challenges of leading a school and this experience offered me invaluable insights into the complexities and rewards of headship.
From the outset, I was fully welcomed into the smaller, rural school. The warmth and hospitality extended to me were a testament to the nurturing culture fostered by the headteacher. Throughout the week, I eagerly absorbed every leadership lesson and insight, recognising that the school’s environment and culture mirrored its authentic leadership.
What struck me most was the genuine care and respect evident in every interaction between teachers and students. Empowerment permeated the atmosphere, with students demonstrating remarkable personal growth and development under the guidance of supportive educators. Similarly, teachers and middle leaders flourished rapidly in their respective areas of responsibility and beyond. Witnessing these examples of student empowerment and staff development reaffirmed my belief in the transformative power of effective school leadership.
A key takeaway from this experience was the importance of being unapologetically caring and ambitious for all members of the school community. Every interaction, whether with students or staff, should be guided by a genuine desire to support and uplift others in the pursuit of academic outcomes and personal growth. The school I shadowed exemplified this ethos effortlessly, with caring and respecting others ingrained in its culture.
What impressed me the most was that this culture of care and respect was internalised by the school community. It was evident in the way students looked out for one another and how staff went above and beyond to support their students’ growth and well-being.
Moreover, the involvement of parents in the school’s daily life was inspiring. I saw examples of parents coming together to rebuild a fence to allow the play area around the pond to meet health and safety criteria. Another parent spearheaded a world-wide courageous advocacy programme which led students to bring conflict resolution and economic solutions to the local and wider school community. Whether rebuilding a fence or spearheading global advocacy programs, parents undoubtedly played a vital role in enhancing the school community. As an aspiring headteacher, I relish the opportunity to create an environment where everyone can flourish and thrive and for the students under my care to have a positive impact on our local and wider community. Therefore, witnessing these examples reinforced my commitment to foster positive impact in my school.
While the school environment was incredibly welcoming and nurturing, it was not without its challenges: uniform infringements, behaviour referrals and parental disagreements were part of daily school life which I have also observed in other educational settings. However, to me, the most striking difference was the timing of detentions and extracurricular activities. Due to its location in a rural town and its size (around 500 students), a significant number of students travelled to the school via coach. This meant that the school day revolved around the coaches’ departure times. As a result, detentions and clubs, including rehearsals for the school production or student-led assemblies had to run at lunch time rather than after school like in most London schools. All these challenges simply reminded me that the role of a headteacher carries immense responsibility and requires equally immense resilience and tremendous adaptability to the specific context of the school.
In conclusion, my week shadowing a headteacher was an insightful experience that reaffirmed my commitment to headship. It underscored the profound impact a caring and ambitious leader can have on a school community. As I continue my leadership journey, I will apply the lessons learned and strive to continue to make a meaningful difference in the lives of students and teachers alike.
Meaningful wellbeing coaching for ITT
Written by Amy Sayer
Amy Sayer is an associate, consultant, mental health trainer and content writer. She is a Leading Diversity advisor for the Chartered College of Teaching. She is the author of the book ‘Supporting staff mental health in your school’.
When I was first training to teach in 2007, I wanted to impress everyone by working ridiculously long hours, volunteering to write new schemes of learning and exhausted my body to the point that by the first week of December I had a horrible chest infection and was in bed for four weeks recovering. I struggled with boundaries and putting time aside for my self-care and time to rest. If I hadn’t had a supportive mentor who role-modelled a healthy work-life balance, I might have pushed myself to the point of being too ill to qualify at all! When I have mentored trainee teachers myself, I made a conscious effort to make time to talk about their hobbies and life outside of school. I didn’t create impossible deadlines which would compromise their wellbeing. Looking at the latest teacher retention figures, 33% of Early Careers Teachers leave within five years of teaching and there is a clear moral duty for ITT providers to explicitly talk to their trainee about supporting their mental health and wellbeing so that they can stay teaching for as long as possible.
I was approached by the ITT Strategic Lead Georgina Crooks from HISP Teaching School Hub to create a wellbeing programme to support her ITT students. Based on the feedback from her trainees about their worries, I wrote a session to be delivered to the whole cohort which presented them with a wellbeing toolkit for them to use to support their wellbeing during their first placement. As a follow-up to this session, I was able to offer virtual one-to-one coaching sessions to trainees who signed up to create a bespoke wellbeing plan to support their wellbeing. When the trainees started their shorter second placement at a different school, I delivered a second input session to the whole cohort which focused on the importance of rest, managing workload and time to reflect on any amendments to their wellbeing which might need implementing. The session finishes by talking them through mental health and wellbeing tips for looking for their first schools. After this session, the trainees had a chance to book a follow-up one-to-one session with me, or an initial session to create a wellbeing plan.
It has been a real privilege to work with the trainees and to hear their journeys into starting teacher training. The amount of adversity that some of the trainees have experienced, and the wealth of experiences that they will bring to their teaching has been truly inspiring to hear. So many have previously struggled with their mental health in a range of ways, and are brave enough to be honest about this so that the best support can be put into place for them in their schools. They have been able to create wellbeing plans which work around their commitments and carve out moments of joy and rest to ensure that they can be in the profession for as long as possible in a way that works for them and meets their individual wellbeing needs.
The workload of the trainee year can be so vigorous and demanding, that sometimes they really value having a space to share their story. The sudden amount of change which occurs when going to a second placement can be really tricky to manage in a world coming out of a pandemic. Their ability to meet new students, form new relationships with new colleagues, travel to a new location (sometimes via hovercraft!) and learn new schemes of work is truly impressive and having the support of an optional one-to-one coaching session to talk things through in a confidential and safe space has proven to be an important part of planning joyful and regular wellbeing into their schedules.
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ADHD Heads: How can we utilise neurodiversity in shaping the future of schools?
Written by Nadia Hewstone
Nadia is a certified executive school leadership coach. She left headship to start Destino Coaching and now supports school leaders with their own development as well as development of their teams.
Below is what I shared at the ‘Breaking the Mould 2’ in Cambridge for #IWD2024. I would love to hear from you with your thoughts and reflections on the themes I explore:
I am Nadia, founder of Destino Coaching – an organisation that supports Headteachers to remain strategic while tackling the enormous amount of operational challenges in schools.
I want headteachers to increase their influence over policy.
Usually, I’m invited to speak about ways to stay on track with your big goals in headship. Over many years I have developed several planning strategies to help me stay focussed and on track. The main principles are now tools I teach the headteachers I work with.
Looking back over my career I see that I became hyper focussed on finding ways to overcome the challenges I faced associated with being neurodivergent. This is what I want to explore with you today.
Over the next 10 minutes, I want to make a case for the need for neurodivergent leaders in schools as one of the key ways we will address the multiple systemwide issues schools are now facing.
- My story
Like many parents of neurodivergent children, I started to look at some of my own behaviours through the lens of my developing understanding of autism and ADHD about 10 years ago, when I was a headteacher. Both of my children have autism and ADHD and my own assessment of ADHD raised a question about potential ASD too – I have yet to find the time and space to investigate this but I have ADHD and while I am just one person with ADHD, I have now worked with many neurodivergent headteachers and have thought long and hard about what we bring to schools as a group.
As a woman with ADHD I face several struggles and I also experience a freedom I believe is unique to neurodivergent women. Here are some things about me that can appear strange to others:
- I stand up for meetings or regularly leave my seat if I am required to be seated.
- I often put tasks off until the last minute
- I find it difficult to follow people when they give long explanations or instructions. I can appear to be bored – and often I am!
- I have to try very hard not to finish other people’s sentences and speak over them in an attempt to speed them up
- I have to work extremely hard at relaxing and being calm – even though I know it is essential to my well-being
- I need others around me to attend to details as I find detail painfully difficult and race forward
- I break rules – especially when they don’t make sense to me
- I do not proofread my documents
The first time I went on a road trip with my deputy Steff, we stopped at a service station and her standout memory of this day was me getting out of the car before she’d finished parking. She still laughs at this memory now. While I see the funny side I also stand by the decision to do this – she is a stickler for doing things correctly, accurately, by the book – I am not. I saw an opportunity to get our Starbucks order in while she finished her perfect bay parking exercise – therefore cutting down lost time.
Steff and I were a match made in heaven! She was accepting of my pace and challenging about my shortcomings – she gave me space to lead my way and facilitated my growth through her attention to detail. I will love her for this forever.
Now that I recognise many of my behaviours as part of my ADHD, I am learning to work with them, quieten my inner critic and communicate more effectively so that others do not take offense.
As a headteacher, I implemented change very quickly and my high energy meant I took my team with me – they told me I was full of purpose and great fun to work with. I also disregarded things I saw as unnecessary restrictions. This was sometimes significantly risky but meant we cut through challenges and achieved things more quickly.
I’ll leave it up to you to imagine the downsides of all this for my school business manager!
I have had 12 female coaching clients over the past 5 years who have a diagnosis of ADHD and all of them report frustration with the restrictions placed on them by the education system.
Neurotypical heads undoubtedly experience this too – the difference is that people with ADHD view this as intensely impossible to work around.
Coaching women with ADHD is generally focussed on how to achieve their massive, exciting, propositus goals despite external barriers such as Ofsted, the National Curriculum and prescriptive working practices. Mostly they are successful once we work out how to embrace the difference.
People with ADHD are 60% more likely to be dismissed from a job, and three times more likely to quit a job impulsively (Barkley, 2008). This is a great loss to society and I hope we can reverse this in schools so that we can secure a way forward that serves young people.
2. Broken system – needs radical change
If you work in a school, I don’t need to tell you the system is broken:
- A widening gap between rich and poor educational outcomes
- Fewer resources
- Greater mental health needs in our young people
- Fewer services to support children and families
I believe that we need a different type of school leadership, a different kind of teacher.
Teachers and leaders are still trapped by the exam treadmill, still unable to have in-depth curriculum discussions or spend proper time collaborating.
Imagine if we flipped the story and leaders and teachers were designing the curriculum, to better match modern societal needs with an intelligent approach to assessment alongside it.
I suggest that neurodivergent thinking is a great way to flip any story.
3. Creative thinking
Take impulsivity, one of the main symptoms of ADHD. The studies suggest it might lead people to have more original ideas. That’s because people with ADHD often lack inner inhibition. This means they have trouble holding back when they want to say or do something.
Many of my neurodivergent clients have found a new voice and new priorities, including giving attention to staff wellbeing and rethinking the micro-management that characterises so many schools. But achieving this small-scale will not have the impact we need it to have and they often do this at the cost of risking their career.
Women with ADHD, in my experience, tend not to fear the truth and make brilliant cases for what new approaches might look like when systems are broken. More importantly, they often have the drive to see it through. This can appear radical, stubborn even, but for us it’s just about doing what makes sense.
In my book, the Unhappy Headteacher, I explore ways we can still have influence and find joy in the role – because I believe we can. I also believe the system needs drastic change with an uncompromising model of implementation. To me, it is clear that neurodivergent women have a valuable part to play in this.
And gender does matter here. According to Association for Adult ADHD (AAD) men with ADHD are likely to develop aggressive and defensive behaviours in response to being misunderstood, Whereas women with ADHD are more likely to mask and experience self-doubt. This self-doubt can be a gift in headship as with support, it is the place where growth and empowerment can be found.
What all adults with ADHD do have in common, in my experience is inner steel. We find EVERYTHING hard and to find fulfillment and do the stuff that lights us up – like pursuing excellence for a school – we have to accept that we will face tremendous amounts of challenge. Mostly because others often misunderstand our intentions. We share a bounce-backability that is unique to neurodivergent leaders and has prepared us well for the current state of affairs. When everything is hard anyway, dealing with the funding crisis seems surmountable somehow – leaders with ADHD believe there is a way to do the impossible, we just need to find it and we know we can
4. Representation
And let’s not forget the importance of representation in all of this. I have a client who has a diagnosis for autism and fears being open about this with her seniors because of her perceived risk of not being considered for promotion. This saddens me when I think about how far we still have to go in exposing our students to the talent and capability of people with ADHD. Our young people deserve to see examples of adults like them leading schools successfully yet as a culture we still shy away from celebrating the gifts of ADHD – these ‘gifts’ scare us rather than inspire us – what message does that give our young people with ADHD and what potential are we stunting?
Neurodivergent students need opportunities to learn ways to manage the challenges associated with serial rushing and extreme procrastination – what better way to do this than having high-performing leaders with ADHD modelling this around them.
My son has an EHCP and was recently interviewed by an Ofsted inspector in his college who asked him why he thought he’d been so successful at 6th Form, after performing below average at all other stop-off points. Lucas cited the single most important factor as being taught by a maths teacher who is autistic and comfortable with it. Could it be true that to become a mathematician, Lucas needed to see someone like him in the role first? And if so, what does this say about representation among our teachers and leaders in schools?
So how can we utilise neurodiversity in shaping the future of schools?
- Create a climate where neurodivergent school leaders feel free to be unapologetically themselves
- Celebrate neurodiversity in schools and society
- Recognise behaviours associated with ADHD and get excited about them as a sign that creative thinking is taking place
- Follow women with ADHD – they have survival mechanism we need right now in schools
'Coaches Like Us': You Have to See It To Be It
Written by Hannah Wilson
Founder of Diverse Educators
‘You have to see it to be it,’ the quote from Billy Jean King, is a phrase we hear used a lot to challenge the lack of visible role models in society but also in our profession.
It is widely agreed that diverse representation is needed in every layer of the school system.
Our trust boards and governing bodies, our CEOs and Headteachers, our Senior Leader Teams are all people spaces that need diversifying. Alongside reviewing representation in our curriculum and in our libraries, for our learners, we also need to review it for our staff. (This is why we host a #DiverseEd World Book Day event each year to amplify authors from our network).
There is a lot of continuing work to be done to disrupt, to dismantle, to diversify these different spaces and to review who gets to occupy them.
But there are other educational spaces for us to also review:
- Who recruits, develops and mentors our trainee teachers?
- Who recruits, develops and mentors our early career teachers?
- Who recruits, develops and mentors our aspiring leaders?
- Who recruits, develops and coaches our existing leaders?
When you review these spaces you will often find a homogenous team, a team who mainly hold majority identities.
So how are the trainers, the mentors and the coaches being trained to become conscious of their own identity, to become confident in addressing their own privilege and to become confident in disrupting bias in the many forms through which it can manifest?
How trauma-informed are the trainers, the mentors and the coaches in supporting individuals who have experienced identity-based harm?
The Church of England Foundation for Educational Leadership launched a brilliant pipeline programme to nurture leaders from a global majority background called Leaders Like Us a couple of years ago, in partnership with Aspiring Heads and the Institute for Educational & Social Equity. This programme is a gamechanger for our education system and our future workforce.
So let’s all consider what Trainers… Mentors… Coaches … ‘Like Us’ would look like.
If we put a spotlight on ‘Coaches Like Us’ as a school, college, trust, SCITT, Teaching School Hub and localities we need to ask ourselves:
- Who gets to be coached?
- Who gets to be The Coach?
- Who gets invested in?
- Who gets nurtured to flourish?
- Who gets supported to progress?
And most importantly, do people get to choose their coach? Or what has become a common phenomenon – does a coach get chosen for them?
Coaching is about creating a safe space. About having a confidential conversation. About exploring how one is feeling. About being vulnerable and open. If your coach is your line manager or someone you work closely with – someone who might appraise your performance or sit on a promotion panel – we are in muddy waters.
What difference would it make for an aspiring leader to self-select a coach who resonates with them? A coach who shares their identity? A coach who has walked their walk?
Some final thoughts:
- How might being coached or becoming a coach help diverse educators stay in the system?
- How might being coached or becoming a coach help diverse leaders climb up the leadership ladder?
- How might being coached or becoming a coach help us tackle the glass ceiling and the concrete ceiling in the education system?
To help our clients, who have asked for our support in diversifying their coaching pools, we have created a #DiverseEd Coaching Directory:
- You can find 25+ coaching profiles here.
- You can meet our coaches through our video gallery here.
- Get in touch if you are a coach who would like to be added or if you are looking for a coach and would like to be connected here.
So You’re the Coachee
Written by Dwight Weir
Dwight is a Deputy Headteacher and Life Coach. He is also an inspector for British Schools Overseas. Dwight has a passion for coaching and leadership development.
Oftentimes we hear about the coach and the skills required to be an effective coach. Not much is said about the coachee – the other very important one in the relationship. The coachee, is a person who receives training from a coach. My learnings from various coaching experiences as a coachee have allowed me to craft certain skills and attitudes which I share as the skills or attitude needed by coachees.
- You answer your own questions. In answering your own questions, you are often engaged in a radical thinking process, examining your challenge and context and then finding the best way through the challenge. The thinking environment is a philosophy of communication developed by Kline (2009), which enables people to think for themselves and think better together. It is a simple, rigorous and radical set of processes. Coaches don’t answer your questions but provide you with the means to think through and find answers yourself.
- You take more risks – It is through risk taking that you know if your ideas will work. On the journey to success – radical decisions are made. You make these decisions as you know you’ll be able to reflect and discuss your thought process with the experienced other – the coach.
- You become more reflective – a great amount of the discussions with the coach is reflective. Researchers such as Muir and Beswick (2007) suggest that there are different levels of reflection that can take place, which move from descriptive to critical forms. It is the critical reflections that help us transform our practices.
- You must embrace quiet moments – embrace quiet moments as you think through your own hurdles. During the mentoring process these quiet moments are filled with answers by the mentor. Within the coaching relationship you don’t need answers you need a sounding board – the experienced other – the coach, to discuss your ideas. Here you find out for yourself. Notice ‘find out’ not told about.
- You become open to criticism – great coaches are frank and open. In coaching relationships you are told the brutal truth about your observed movements, dialogues, expressions and attitude. During your intake session a good coach will ask you how you’d like to be challenged or not. Does it make sense you start this journey, not wanting to hear the truth? Feedback is a gift. You can return the gift. But on these occasions, you keep the gift, as in true coaching relationships trust is the base from which change is realised.
A lot can be gained throughout coaching journeys and relationships. What is more and more apparent is, coaches don’t give answers but feed with questions which enable meaningful thought and self-discovered answers to your challenges. This is a skill only the experienced other could exhibit flawlessly and empower the coachee to unravel options and find answers. I describe this process as a journey, this relationship develops gradually after establishing trust and an openness to feedback from your coach.
Coaching relationships should be for a proposed period of time. It should be anticipated that the experienced other will equip coachees with the skills to enable their success then release them to grow.
Can you be coached if you don’t display these attitudes? Of course – it just might take you a little longer.
Redefining representation in engineering careers
Written by Virtue Igbokwuwe
Virtue Igbokwuwe is a civil engineering graduate from the University of Southampton, currently working at Eurovia. She recently took part in Tomorrow’s Engineers Week - an annual celebration run by EngineeringUK. Her YouTube channel, The Virtuous Life, has over 5,000 subscribers.
Looking back, I can recall the exact moment I heard the words ‘civil engineer’. I was having a conversation with my A-level physics teacher about an essay she had set. She told me about the profession and the wider engineering sector. She opened my eyes to a fascinating new world full of brilliant opportunities. I wouldn’t be where I am today without her advice and guidance. I’ve made it my mission to encourage more girls to follow in my footsteps and hope that you can help. So, I’d like to tell my own personal story of how I became a civil engineer.
Before starting at the University of Southampton, I remember desperately searching ‘civil engineering student’ on Google and YouTube. I was desperately trying to find someone like me studying the course or in the industry. I remember seeing a lot of aspiring Lawyers and Doctors on YouTube but not a lot Engineers, especially Civil Engineers.
Ask anyone what an engineer is, and they will inevitably paint a picture of a middle-aged man with a clipboard wearing a hard hat. Since entering the field, I have learned that the narrative around engineering being male dominated is so outdated. It really couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, my cohort split at university was 60:40, men to women. It’s an aspect of this industry that I wish many more girls thinking of pursuing a career in engineering were aware of.
I decided to take matters into my own hands. I started a YouTube channel, The Virtuous Life. When I began filming videos, I had two things in mind. The first was representation: showing a young, black woman in the field; hoping to inspire people. The second was to change narratives: showing the world that civil engineering isn’t a male-dominated field anymore. I began documenting life as a civil engineering student, including my lectures, labs, site visits and summer placements as a contractor. Today, my channel has more than 5,500 subscribers.
It’s my ‘Day in the life…’ videos which resonate the most with viewers. They are a chance to see the day-to-day activity of a site engineer or a placement student. Not everyone knows an engineer or has one in the family and YouTube vlogs bridge that gap. I have become the ‘neighbourhood engineer’ that people need. It is so important for people to feel like they are represented. Seeing someone like you in a field you wouldn’t expect goes a long way, and people downplay the impact. From my experience, seeing people in a field or position I never imagined was possible inspired and motivated me to pursue a career as a civil engineer.
I receive comments from subscribers about how my YouTube videos have influenced their A-level choices and their desire to pursue engineering. They are a testament to the change in narrative that is so desperately required. We need to make the sector attractive to not only women, but more representative of our wider society.
I believe if we start showcasing inspiring people in the engineering and technology field earlier on in our school years, it will give young people a chance to make a well-informed decision on what career path they want to go into. It’s hard to have an idea of what you want to do if you’ve never seen or heard of the profession before. We have a duty to inspire and guide the younger generation and show them the amazing works that Civil Engineers do, the mega projects and the local ones! There are many organisations that aim to increase the representation of women and ethnic minority in the Engineering industry such as EngineeringUK, the EDI Team at the Royal Academy of Engineers, Girls Under Construction, AFBE-UK and Go Construct. Partnering with such organisations, or getting involved with initiatives such as Tomorrow’s Engineers Week, can allow the message to be reached by more and more young people. It also means that schools can partner with those organisations and hold events, talks or workshops for the students to increase their exposure to the world of civil engineering and the variety of pathways into it.
Graduating with a first-class degree in civil engineering has marked a new, exciting chapter in my life. I will continue to post videos to document life in the industry and hope to continue inspiring the next generation of engineers.
Virtue took part in a live broadcast to mark Tomorrow’s Engineers Week 2023. To watch the recording on-demand and access free curriculum-based resources to inspire young people about future careers in engineering and technology, please visit www.teweek.org.uk
Peanut Brittle or Marshmallow? (Growing into Flexible Working)
Written by Erin Skelton
Erin is first and foremost an educator and her extensive experience includes a diverse range of roles, encompassing both pastoral and academic leadership positions, across both independent and state education settings. Prior to joining Bright Field, Erin’s most recent role was as Assistant Head and Head of Sixth Form in a top independent girls' school. In this role, she nurtured her students, instilled a sense of purpose and provided invaluable mentoring to prepare them for life as a woman in the 21st century and beyond.
It’s 8:39 on a Monday morning as I sit and type this. I’ve already had breakfast, fed the dog, emptied the dishwasher, folded and put away the laundry, and undertaken the mammoth task of ensuring that my son was prepared for the day and is sitting on the school bus. My first meeting isn’t until 10:00… Normally, with military precision I would be up, packed and gone by 7am on the dot to get myself to school for 7:45. Logged on, armed with the first of many caffeinated drinks, I would already have sent multiple emails and dealt with numerous issues before anyone else arrived; after all, I had spent the last seven years as Assistant Head in charge of a large Sixth Form in a top independent school.
And yet, here I am, on a Monday morning, sitting in my home office. I am one of many senior leaders in education who have opted out of senior leadership. If you’re reading this, then I’m sure that you have read the constant stream of headlines and statistics about teachers at all levels wanting to redefine what their working lives look like. Well, I am one of those people.
Full disclosure, the decision to step out of a SLT position has been a challenging one. As an Assistant Head, on a good day, I felt like I was making a significant difference to the school and students; I felt a real sense of purpose, like I was an empathetic superhero. That is a feeling I still love and it’s one of my core values. But realistically, I knew that to achieve that I was working sixteen-hour days, I was at every school event, answering emails at 11:00pm before I closed my eyes, and the first thing I would do in the morning was to check my email with dread to see what had come into my inbox whilst I was sleeping. I was sacrificing my time, my family and ultimately my wellbeing, and I was measuring my sense of worth solely by my job. But what about the holidays, I hear you say. Most Heads of Sixth Form work most of school holidays; we field university and UCAS application issues, worries about mock and real examinations, we prepare for and support Y11 students around GCSEs and entry to our Sixth Forms and we work tirelessly around A level results, university admissions and UCAS clearing. Almost every issue that lands with us is a matter that could change the course of a young person’s life. It is not a job for the faint of heart.
I spent so much of my time giving inspirational assemblies and talks about knowing your worth, being brave and following your dreams, that I had ultimately known for several years, that I needed to do that for myself, even if I knew that I would probably have to unravel many of my own self-beliefs to get there. I loved my role and I love my school. I was also fully aware that I could have tried to find a better balance, that I could have had healthier boundaries around my job, but the nature of my role meant that if I did that, it would be the students who lost out, because my role wasn’t about ticking boxes, it was about people and what made me a great Head of Sixth Form was that I was invested in ensuring every student was happy and as successful as possible.
Cue discussion about being authentic and following my dreams… The reality was that I felt trapped; I had been a teacher for eighteen years, all of which had been in some type of leadership position. I had no idea what it was to not have leadership responsibilities and like so many of my colleagues, I thought the only thing that I could do was “teach”; we forget the vast skill sets that teachers have. I made lists, I sounded people out, I listened to podcasts, and I read. I tried to remember what my dreams actually were.
Eight months ago, armed with my thinking, I walked into my Head’s office after psyching myself up for three months to speak to her. That initial conversation with my Head set things in motion, and I returned to my school in September as a part-time main-scale teacher for the first time in eighteen years. Here’s what I’ve learned so far…
We are educationalists not simply teachers. We have a vast skill set and are not defined by the parameters of a job description. Teaching seeps out of our pores and when you work outside of one singular educational setting you get a real sense of how this is a superpower that can be applied in so many areas of life and work.
I didn’t step down, but I did step out. I think it’s important to think about the language that we use when we talk about changes in the ways people work. I have had such mixed responses to my decision. When a person wishes to work more flexibly, particularly when the decision has nothing to do with childcare needs or health, that decision is often questioned on the grounds of their ability to “cope”. We shouldn’t have to cope; there are no awards for giving so much of yourself into any role that you have nothing left. I am a highly successful, highly competent leader in education; I didn’t fail because I wanted to step out of the parameters that were defined for me, I wanted to draw my own.
Flexible working doesn’t come without its challenges. I work full-time across two roles: one teaching and one largely within educational settings both in the UK and globally, plus some additional passion projects. Balancing the demands of both roles requires a lot of organisation and commitment to both institutions equally. I would add that as teachers, we are very institutionalised; our days run to a formulaic schedule, and we become adept at putting ourselves last during the course of the school day. This is a real issue for everyone I have met who has moved to part-time teaching or moved out of the classroom altogether. Suddenly there isn’t a bell telling us when we can go to the toilet, a timetable dictating how we spend our days, or a salary that we receive irrespective of the additional hours we put in. Suddenly we have to navigate part-time working conditions, changes to the complexity of how our tax, pension and benefits are calculated and sometimes a lack of understanding from the full-time staff managing our HR and payroll.
Stepping out of a leadership role and remaining in my school has also personally been a real challenge for me. I now know that I could have undertaken my SLT role part-time as well as taking on my new role with relative ease. I am also slowly settling into being a classroom teacher where there are no expectations for me outside of that role. It is hard to have to say ‘no’ when students approach me for support, or you can see colleagues struggling with the burden of their workload or a problem they would have previously approached me to solve, particularly given the nature and size of my previous role. At present, there is still a lot that I am doing behind the scenes to support which I am not paid to do, but I do so because I care, and my decision has had a significant impact on the school.
If you can make peace with the frustrations, flexible working can give you space, time, and a balance to your perspective and the way you live your life. It’s very early days for me, but already I am excited about utilising my skills in new ways, taking the time to meet new people, read inspiring books and work more creatively on projects that have a wider impact. I am noticing little things, taking reflection time, being out of doors, being more present with my family, resuming old hobbies and taking up new ones.
I find myself growing to fill an expansive space and I welcome it.
Make Yourself Heard
Written by Bennie Kara
Co-Founder of Diverse Educators
Public speaking is a fact of life in the teaching profession. We speak to students all the time in classrooms, but every so often, we are called to deliver assemblies, or to deliver training to staff, or to speak to governors. Some of us are supremely confident in talking in front of students, but shudder at the thought of talking to a group of adults. If you’ve ever felt a sense of dread when you are asked to stand up and deliver spoken content outside of the classroom, you’re not alone. According to the British Council, 75% of us suffer from anxiety about talking in front of a crowd.
Speaking in front of the crowd may tap into a range of fears. We might fear being nervous and how that might affect our assignment. We might fear judgement, or fear that we won’t get everything across that we want to say. We might fear that people won’t listen. We might fear forgetting what we are saying in the moment, stumbling, freezing, feeling embarrassed. These are valid fears and affect most of us.
Whose voices are valued in the public space? Some people are less confident in their speaking abilities because their voices have been silenced. In the UK, global majority teachers work in a predominantly white British teaching workforce; we know the statistics on the ethnic make-up of leadership teams in education. Global majority teachers may suffer from the voicelessness that is part and parcel of existing in marginalised groups. This isn’t just true in terms of race and ethnicity; it is also true for sexuality, gender, disability, and neurodiversity.
Voicelessness erodes confidence. So it is hugely important that we learn how to find a voice in the public space and to feel like we belong there.
Finding your message
Regardless of the occasion, it is important to define the message. Speaking in a staff meeting, delivering a talk to parents – what is it that we want to get across? Not just in terms of the information, but also about you. How are you defining your leadership in the moment through what you say and how you say it?
The message might be small, or it might be momentous. In either case, we need to find ways to define a sense of who we are as engaging speakers and to ensure that we can convey our message effectively. This takes thought, planning, and crucially, constructive practice.
The best public speakers have elements in common. One of the most powerful tools in public speaking is your ability to tell a story. Storytelling is vital in public speaking, in the appropriate contexts. An assembly without a story, a keynote without anecdote can feel dry and impersonal. The most skilled public speakers I have encountered know how to weave a story into the talk with a deftness and ease that seems intuitive.
But storytelling is not intuitive for all. Some people are completely comfortable in selecting anecdotes, examples, stories, tiny useful narratives for the public engagement. Others have to think more carefully, but that careful process can lead to brilliant, engaging public speaking.
The Diverse Educators ‘Make Yourself Heard’ Course
Designing this course, for us, means that we can support you in developing the right mindset for public speaking and provide you with practical strategies to make yourself heard. It aims to develop a voice with you in small groups so that you have the chance to listen, learn, practise and hear feedback.
If you would like support in developing your voice, join us on the ‘Making Yourself Heard’ course using the details below:
Monday 15th January and Monday 11th March 4-5pm
Part 1 – Monday 15th January 2024 4.00-5.00pm
The first session is an intensive look at how you can plan, develop and deliver talk in public so that you can create impactful messages.
Part 2 – Monday 11th March 2024 4.00-5.00pm
This second session aims to support you in considering how to speak impactfully in public. It will cover planning, rehearsal and delivery style in a safe, supportive space with fellow educators.
Nb/ Both sessions will be held on zoom, they will be recorded so purchasing the recording is also an option if you are unable to make either of the dates.