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10
ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE
Academic Coaching
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
‘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.
English teacher Milly Pumfrey coaches NQT Lucinda Gallagher