Coaching is increasingly being used as driver for educational change, a tool for educational leadership development, and is growing in its recognition as a model for effective learning.
Coaching provides a natural fit for educators. Not only does it combine an array of learning theories within its process, it also serves to to deepen and accelerate learning (Griffiths, 2009).
In fact, learning is interwoven throughout the process of coaching, resulting in coaching being an effective means of facilitating a dynamic interchange between more than fifteen distinct learning theories (Griffiths, 2008), including:
- Collaborative learning
- Mentoring
- Self-directed learning
- Social learning
- Reflective learning
- Adult learning
- Experiential learning
- Transformative learning
- Deep learning
- Authentic learning
- Action learning
- Inductive learning
- Discovery learning
- Powerful learning
- Lifelong learning
- Accelerated learning
- Problem-based learning
- Emotional intelligence
Using coaching as a vehicle for educational change or leadership development has two major benefits:
- you create the change you desire
- you experientially learn the coaching process, which can be re-applied with staff and students to enhance learning and facilitate change
