Coaching can be a transformational experience for leaders in the education sector. According to data collected during the two-year partnership between Know You More and Education Scotland, 96% of education practitioners accessing coaching would highly recommend the experience to a friend or colleague.

The two programmes available to education staff across Scotland, comprising of a one to one and a group offer, have been designed to support practitioners with a number of development themes, from leadership, to wellbeing, to change management.

In this blog post, we hear the stories of education staff who have taken advantage of Education Scotland's coaching offer and the impact it’s had as part of their continuous professional development.

Catherine Marshall, a Know You More Coach with experience within the Education Sector, shares the main reasons why people in the industry are choosing coaching. One of the key benefits she has witnessed in her practice - she shares - is a more balanced approach to a coachee’s work-life.

According to Catherine, people in Education have chosen coaching when navigating the transition from working remotely to a hybrid or fully in-person approach.

“I think one of the predominant themes has been wellbeing and getting a better work-life balance. Many of the coachees I worked with last year had found the transition from the COVID world back into a world where human interaction and face to face contact had returned quite difficult, because a lot of them had become very used to working from home. In the absence of being able to go into schools and meet staff, parents, pupils or their peers at relevant settings, they had become quite isolated and 'institutionalised' at home. With that came an increasing workload and the boundaries between work and home becoming quite blurred.

Many practitioners were then finding the transition back to the physical workplace and re-connecting with others quite difficult. And some of them, I think, as a result perhaps of that sense of isolation, had taken on a lot of work.”

For coaching to be successful, Catherine emphasised that the coachee must be willing to make a step change and be open to new ideas. When this happens, coaching can be transformational. The coachee must be able to be honest with themselves and their coach and be prepared to take action to make changes in their life:

“From my own experience as a coach, the coachee must really want to enter that coaching space and want to make some small incremental changes in their lives. They have to have got to a point where they feel bit 'stuck' and they want some help getting 'unstuck' and are prepared to work at making changes with the coach.”

The coachee's voice: success stories

Education Scotland coachees, Scott and Susan, shared their positive experiences with the Digital Coaching for Headteachers programme. Scott, a Headteacher, says:

“My confidence in being able to manage my own health and wellbeing increased significantly since engaging in coaching. My coach instilled a sense of accountability in relation to planning and scheduling health and wellbeing time every week and making this routine and habit.

I have learned new techniques in terms of working with staff to ensure we take things forward collaboratively and their voices are heard. I have introduced my colleagues to coaching techniques, to ensure they are not 'all work, no play' and that I place a high value on them switching off and not working crazy hours.

I also support colleagues with the most difficult parts of their jobs - pupil behaviour etc. Leading by example is essential for me, such as leaving work at a normal hour and telling my team when I'm doing something for myself and encouraging them to do the same.

To make sure I am implementing my learnings from coaching at work I make 'me time' sacrosanct, ensure I still have healthy relationships with family and friends, and switch off when needed. I also use techniques to ensure maximum collegiality in the workplace.

Overall, my sessions with my coach were superb and I highly recommend the programme to others. I got a promotion during our spell and my coach’s support was a significant contributing factor to this.”

We also heard Susan’s experience of the same programme:

“Since engaging in coaching, even though I tend to doubt myself, I know that I am perfectly capable of tackling what needs to be done. I recognise my lack of energy and the impact of having long-COVID but setting boundaries helps and knowing who and when to ask for support.

Experiencing coaching again reinforced the benefits of having someone listen and often that is what is most required of me for staff, so as a team we now have a health and wellbeing meeting every 3 weeks. We have also discussed the ways we could use coaching conversations to support each other within our senior leadership team.

To make sure I am implementing my learning from coaching at work I have kept my 'letter to myself' and re-read it to remind me of the importance of setting clear boundaries to support my own wellbeing so that I can support others. Knowing I have options also helps in the here and now!”

One to One and Group Coaching are part of Education Scotland’s Supporting Workforce Wellbeing offering for 22-23.