Final coaching cavan

The School Leader and the underperforming teacher

Informal and Formal Procedures

Almost immediately and before The Principal has had an opportunity to say anything, Mr Maguire blurts out:

“This is the last place I want to be right now…. in here, in school or in class…… I’m thinking of calling it a day altogether-things are just gone from bad to worse for me…… I think that’s the thing to do…things just are not happening for me.

The Meeting

Score the Principal’s response from 1-5, from the list of six

Principals Response 1

‘On the basis of what you have just said ,Id say you show a very definite lack of self confidence at the moment’.


‘Tell me a little about why you are not enjoying your work and what you mean by things are not happening for you.’


“You are wrong if you think that ‘calling it a day’ is the answer”


‘I’ve heard worse accounts of teachers in difficulty…and they turned out all right in the end. You seemed to be doing fine up to last year’.


‘Why don’t you make a list of what it is about work that is problematic and that is causing you to be unhappy and we will meet tomorrow and go through this again.’


“…are you telling me that you are unhappy in yourself at the moment.. and that school has not been easy……and that you would like to tease it out”

Responses 1-6

Directive

Evaluative

Supportive

Interpretative

Reflective

Probing

Impact of Principals initial Response

Probing

Reflective

Interpretative

Evaluating

Challenging Confronting

Supportive

Directive

Mr Maguire?

Defence

Acceptance

Aggression

Fatalism

Passivity

Perceptual Positions

First Position Second Position

Third Position

Being ‘present’!

Being ‘present’!

EMPATHYUnderstanding the experiences, behaviours and feelings of others as THEY experience them

Strategies:• identify and reflect on feelings• paraphrase

“You feel……because…..”

At best it is a way of ‘being with’ othersTo be effective:

• take time to think• use short responses• use client’s language• be tentative

Means putting aside own prejudices and points of view

Avoid:• sympathy• Interpretation• Advice

Flow

Source: Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harper & Row

Anxiety

Boredom

(High)

(Low)

(High)(Low)

Cha

lleng

es

Skills

Apathy

Flow

Some negative features late career

• Increasing sense of mortality

• Impending retirement

• Experiences of repetitive change - wearing

• Energy levels

• Health

• Technological generational inversion

• Growing disenchantment

• Declining confidence

Emotional

Cognitive

0 0Support

Two big questions for the Principal

Is there underperformance?

How do I know?

Career StagesP

erf

orm

ance

Time

60+

Mr Maguire?

Different emotional/cognitive landscapes?

….and despite your best

as coach/mentor/colleague …………..you may find it necessary in Mr Maguire’s case to move on now

to…. the more formal stage.

Final coaching cavan

Education