The paper will analyse the contribution of a training program based on group coaching to the professional development of educational leaders. The program involved small groups of experienced principals in the analysis of their practice by means of specific feedback and a highly structured learning sequence. It is the improved second version of a former program designed and piloted by an international consortium of 13 research groups –the one of the paper authors included- supported by a Multilateral Comenius Project from the EU.
A total of 94 principals with varied backgrounds and leadership profiles participated in the study of the program impact. They were organized in groups initially composed by 6 participants plus a coach –an experienced principal as well. Participants fulfilled a satisfaction questionnaire and the program sessions were video-recorded and analysed by means of a category system designed ad hoc. Results show that groups succeeded very differently in terms of achieving a deep understanding of their members’ leadership practice and providing useful suggestion of improvement. Conclusions about the factors that influenced these levels of performing are provided and its consequences for the design of future training tools for principals’ professional development based in the analysis of their practice are discussed.
The greatest consensus regarding school leadership preparation is actually build on the idea that traditional perspectives based on transmissive strategies are not enough and the new programs must be learning instead teaching focused (Schleicher, 2012; Walker, Bryant y Lee, 2013). This put leadership practice at the very centre of the training programs (Nicastro, 2014) which demands, according to Piggot-Irvine y Youngs (2011), participants’ reflection about specific situations and collaboration among leaders in order to share and analyse best practices.
Consequently, emphasis on teamwork is an essential component of the new perspectives (Van Knippenberg y Schippers, 2007), as most of the major problems faced by principals need collegiality and a wide spam of social skills. Moreover, group training and coaching relief the isolation feelings that many principals report (Walker, Bryant y Lee, 2013), as peer supporting enhance safety feelings (Moreno, Quesada y Pineda, 2010) and provide motivation for continuous professional development (Schleicher, 2012).
Our training program took on a group-coaching format. It is just recently when coaching has begun to be used in school principals’ preparation, although the strategy already counts on a long trajectory in the industry and services organizations (Huff, Preston, y Goldring, 2013). Coaching puts the trainee in the centre, specifically its characteristics, professional practice and skills. It frequently includes the analysis and improvement of such practice and provide some kind of specific feedback (Forde, McMahon, Gronn y Martin, 2012).
Particularly group coaching is one of the coaching strategies that gained relevance in the last years. Its unique trait consist on the participants not only receive feedback from a specialized coach but also from the rest of coachees. According to Dyke (2014) it is about taken advantage of group interaction to provoke a deeper understanding from the participants about themselves as leaders and the multiple factors influencing their practice and decisions. Britton (2015) thinks this capacity become critical when participants have to analyse complex situations and problematic decisions made in culturally diverse settings.
EU funded project in which the first version of the training program was designed made a substantial contribution to the development of group-coaching applied to school principals’ preparation (Aas and Vavik, 2015; Aas and Flückiger, 2016). The second version which results are discussed here was developed under a new, locally funded project (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competiveness) taken into account the lessons learned during and after the piloting of the first version.