Cultures in Schools A roundtable interview with Teachers who Coach
three Teachers who Coach, in this order in the picture, Paul, Rory and Hazel. The bald guy is Coach Martin Richards and he asks the interview questions, as coaches often do.
● ● ● ● ● ● ● Born and trained in United Kingdom; 11 years teaching in the English system Moved to Denmark in 2002; 20+ years in international schools (Athletics Director, Dean of Students, High School Grade Coordinator) Introduced to Thinking Collaborative Cognitive Coaching by Bill Powell and Ochan Powell Developed deep listening, open-questioning, and peer coaching skills Applied coaching to student projects and staff reflection/planning Now teaches Business Management and runs leadership development/coaching workshops Focus: embedding coaching as part of school culture, not as an add-on
● ● ● ● ● ● Director of Instructional Coaching GEMS Dubai American Academy, previous assistant principal and International Baccalaureate (IB) Psychology teacher. Began coaching in 2018 where he completed CoachU 2-day Coaching Clinic for Leaders. He is now Associate Certified Coach (ACC) with the international coaching federation and a licensed coaching facilitator. First practiced coaching with his nine-year-old daughter (artistic gymnast) while driving her to competitions Implemented coaching with IB students by shifting from “telling” to “asking” questions Saw stronger student ownership, autonomy, and goal-setting skills Trained 54 leaders in education in the 2-day coaching clinic to support the development of a collaborative coaching culture in schools.
● 16 years teaching across United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Singapore, China ● Burnout led her to seek coaching in Singapore; it transformed her approach and well-being ● Now an ICF ACC professional coach, working full-time with teachers and school leaders ● Focus: first let teachers experience coaching, then train them to apply it to colleagues and students ● Has supported whole-school culture change by integrating coaching language and practices
to building it into the culture of your schools. That's not an easy shift. What drew you to try? Paul: My first experience of coaching was through sport, actually. Then as I moved from Athletics Director to become Dean of Students I started to use my sports coaching approach to support students in their well being and academic development., This led to training in Cognitive Coaching where something clicked. It showed me how listening and questioning could unlock both students and colleagues. I want that to be part of how our whole school functioned, not just something for a few of us. Hazel: For me, it was burnout that pushed me to look for something different. Teaching across five countries, I had picked up a "fix everything" mindset - and it wore me out. Coaching gave me a way to build people's capacity without carrying it all myself. Once I saw how powerful it was for individual teachers, I knew it could transform the whole culture. Rory: I was in a leadership role in the UAE, and I kept hitting resistance when introducing new strategies. People felt "done to." Coaching flipped it. When I stopped telling and started asking, people opened up. It wasn't just that they liked it - they actually started changing faster.
look like? Hazel: I started small, with one-to-one coaching for staff who were curious. No labels, no fanfare - just safe conversations. From there, I established a coaching team and together we created a clear vision and a three-year plan. I brought in structured coaching spaces for staff, introduced student leadership group coaching, and supported new staff training. Slowly, it became normal. Paul:Starting with student leaders, the student council they are more open to learn and try, train them to use coaching questions in their meetings, then show how this can be applied to other areas of student life. Then working with small groups of staff, that were interested, wanting to try, supporting each other. We started running teacher learning group sessions and what I would now call peer supervision groups. Rory: I worked with the senior leadership team. We embedded coaching tools into our leadership routines, like lesson observations and feedback meetings. It modelled the mindset from the top down.
Rory: Early scepticism. Some saw coaching as "soft." We had to show results - better collaboration, deeper reflection, even improved student outcomes. Hazel: Time pressure. Teachers felt they couldn't add one more thing. So we wove coaching into what they were already doing - performance reviews, line manager conversations and professional development conversations. It slowly shifted from being "extra" and started to move towards "how we work." Paul: Yes both of these were also challenges, however for me the school Systems became most challenging.. There needs to be buy-in through the whole school, starting with the Leadership. When a school makes coaching a priority then when scheduling, lessons, meetings, training days etc then space is made for the teachers to learn, try, and reflect, and therefore develop. It can not be a one off, but needs to be embedded into the culture.
root? Paul: Hearing students use coaching language with each other. That was the moment I knew it had reached them, not just the staff. Hazel: When teachers started asking each other reflective questions in the corridor and in planning meetings - "What else could we try?" or "What impact will this have on our students?" - I knew it had become part of our daily language. Rory: Trust. People became willing to have honest conversations. Coaching culture created the psychological safety that makes that possible.
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