Discuss how coaching is used to improve teacher performance. Include in your response • An explanation of both “expert” and “reciprocal” coaching models, and • Identify some of the advantages of coaching in education.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Ans: Coaching is often used in education. Peer coaching has been found to be one of the more powerful training models for teachers. Peer coaching is a process through which two or more professional colleagues work together reflecting on current practice, building or refining new skills, sharing ideas, conducting action research, teaching one another, and/or problem-solving.

Two coaching models, expert and reciprocal, can be used together or separately. Expert peer coaching consists of a specially trained teacher observing, lending support, giving feedback, and making suggestions to a less skilled teacher. Reciprocal coaching can also be called peer coaching.
Advantages of coaching in education:
• Improving teachers’ skills and attitudes
• Assisting teachers in transferring knowledge learned in professional development workshops to the classroom
• Reducing the feeling of isolation of teachers who work independently
• Promoting collegiality and trusting relationships among teachers
• Encouraging reflective practice
• Increasing feelings of teacher effectiveness
• Improving student achievement
Learning Objective: Define the critical elements of collaboration and describe the role of interactive communication, problem-solving, and conflict resolution in effective collaboration. Create examples of when collaboration did and did not work and explain why.
Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Working to Improve Teacher Performance
Difficulty Level: Hard