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A coaching program in a school would allow times during the school year for teachers to engage in conversations related to strategies that work or don't work with students. It would allow them to come together to share, reflect on and refine their practice and engage in professional dialogue about learning. Most importantly, they would be reflecting on their practice while still being in practice - the most effective form of professional learning there is. __What is Coaching?__ Coaching is a form of professional learning which integrates the most effective learning aboutteacher work. Coaching is designed to integrate effective staff development and successfulchange management processes through providing a continuous growth process for people atall experience levels. Coaching is teachers talking and acting in a purposeful way with the goal of continuouslyimproving their teaching practice. A coach is a critical listener/observer who asks questions,makes observations and offers suggestions that help a teacher to reflect and grow andproduce different decisions. The ultimate goal of any coaching program is to institutionalise reflective practice andcontinuous improvement among staff as part of collaborative, collegial learning environmentsfor the purpose of improving student achievement. Teacher Coaching is a highly sophisticated form of school-based professional reflective practice. It is a series of conversations designed to assist teachers to extend their personal and professional learning and improve student achievement. (//Julie Boyd in School Based and professional learning, Reflective Practice and Coaching 2000.)//

Cognitive Coaching is a form of mediation that may be applied to professional interactions in a variety of settings and situations with the intention of enhancing self-directed learning. It is a composite of skills and strategies, maps and tools and mental models and beliefs. In addition it is a model for classroom mediation to enhance students' self-directed learning. (A.Costa, R. Garmston 1994)

Coaches facilitate learning in teachers by “posing questions, challenging thinking, and leading them in examining ideas and relationships.” (Cohen et al. 1993)

Coaching is a way of working with colleagues to support and encourage them in their development. (G Powell, M Chambers, G Baxter 2001)

Coaching is about learning, lifelong learning… It is about acting from strength, it is not a process of ‘fixing’ people. (G Hoult, 2005)

//A coach is someone who:// (1) sees what others may not see through the high quality of his or her attention or listening, (2) is in the position to step back (or invite participants to step back) from the situation so that they have enough distance from it to get some perspective, (3) helps people see the difference between their intentions and their thinking or actions, and (4) helps people cut through patterns of illusion and self-deception caused by defensive thinking and behaviour.(Robert Hargrove, Masterful Coaching 1995)

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