The Chronicle, No. 668, September 2015

10 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Academic Coaching

‘Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.’ EM Forster

We talk to Gavin Turner, Head of Geography and Tutor, and Beth Steer, RS Teacher and AHM in Avenue, about the new coaching programme, an important aspect of the academic ethos at Teddies.

Tell us a bit more about what you mean by coaching. Presumably, in this context, you don’t mean laps of the field and press ups? BS: No. Our new academic coaching programme was introduced about a year ago. It is based on a firm belief that pupils are capable of taking responsibility for their own decisions, both in their academic work and beyond, and that it is far better for them and their future development if they learn how to identify their own solutions

to difficulties and challenges rather than relying on their teachers and tutors to tell them what to do. It sounds obvious, but schools have not traditionally embraced this view. Systematically building a coaching philosophy into the academic programme at Teddies is a new development. What does that mean in practice? GT: Across the educational spectrum, there has been a tendency for teachers to be seen as ‘all-knowing oracles’. The coaching

English teacher Milly Pumfrey coaches NQT Lucinda Gallagher