Developing coaching helps leaders address many of the key issues facing schools today: school improvement, reshaping the workforce, succession planning, personalisation, standards and accountability. The NCSL publication Leading Coaching in Schools is grounded in evidence from research and provides school leaders with a practical guide to the implications of the National Framework for Mentoring and Coaching. 
DfES, 2005 (102kb, 5 pages)
Whilst it takes many different forms, coaching is essentially a joint enterprise in which one person supports another to develop their understanding and practice in an area defined by their own needs and interests.
The coach will help the learner to identify a clearly focused aspect of practice upon which to work. They will secure a positive rapport with their colleague, listen intently to their needs and concerns, ask probing questions that help clarify the area for development and ask challenging questions that stretch their awareness and perspective of the issue in focus. The coach will help the learner identify new behaviours and help them embed enhanced practice.
Coaching interactions of this nature can be short informal learning conversations, as well as longer, sustained and formally structured CPD opportunities. Although informal, such conversations are most effective when driven by clear principles that are linked to action.
The NCSL workbook frames six propositions and seven action implications for school leaders who wish to develop coaching in their schools.
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