Will I be a good teacher? Every trainee teacher should ask themselves this question, according to Günter Siehlmann, an expert in Business Education. Coaching can help with this. Siehlmann explains how this works and why he would like to see such coaching made available to all trainee teachers at a specialist conference for trainee teacher trainers in Oldenburg.
QUESTION: Mr Siehlmann, you are a keen advocate of teacher coaching, which is already an integral part of teacher training in North Rhine-Westphalia. Why is that?
SIEHLMANN: I believe there are teachers in our schools who have doubts about their profession. You can sometimes sense this when they talk about their day-to-day life in the classroom and with their pupils. That is disastrous. There are studies showing that dissatisfaction among teachers is particularly high. The burnout rate is also at the higher end of the scale. These are all indications that we should be addressing the issue as early as teacher training. It all starts with the question of choosing the right career and identifying with the role of a teacher. And that is precisely where coaching comes in.
QUESTION: Doesn’t every new professional have to adjust to their new role at first? Why do teachers need special coaching in this regard?
SIEHLMANN: There was once a book entitled *The Teacher’s Fear of the Pupil*. This phenomenon still exists. After all, you aren’t born a teacher. It is, rather, a process of development. You gradually develop a sense of your identity as a teacher and professional competence. Moreover, being a teacher isn’t getting any easier. Pupils now challenge teachers in far more areas than before; it’s increasingly about guidance and counselling. However, teacher training still focuses too much on teaching and does not prepare trainees sufficiently for the reality of the classroom.
QUESTION: And is that what this sort of coaching achieves?
SIEHLMANN: The coaching at least addresses any doubts that trainee teachers themselves may have. They reflect on their role and the expectations placed upon them. Some then realise, for example, that they do not yet know enough about their educational responsibilities as teachers and can then go back and study further. Others feel validated by the coaching and approach their new role with greater self-confidence. Still others realise during the coaching that the teaching profession isn’t right for them and drop out of the training programme. That’s more of an extreme case, though. And if that happens during a coaching session, at least they’ve made a conscious career decision.
QUESTION: How does this sort of coaching actually work in practice?
SIEHLMANN: In North Rhine-Westphalia, every trainee teacher is legally entitled to two coaching sessions during their training period. The coaching sessions are offered by the core seminar leaders – these are the trainers who operate across subject areas and have received special training specifically for coaching. The coaching itself is always a one-to-one session in which a specific situation or conflict is addressed. It usually involves two to three sessions. You could say that coaching is a sort of bypass.
QUESTION: A bypass? That sounds more like medicine than teacher training…
SIEHLMANN: You could also call it a loop. The idea behind the reformed teacher training in North Rhine-Westphalia is that trainee teachers can, in a self-directed manner, select the options that suit them best from a range of available programmes. Coaching is part of this. For example, a trainee teacher might realise that they repeatedly find themselves under time pressure. During the coaching sessions, the causes and possible solutions are worked through. One approach could then be to go back to the range of options and choose a time-management course.
QUESTION: Is there any empirical evidence yet of the actual impact of these coaching sessions?
SIEHLMANN: The coaching is well received by trainee teachers. Almost all of them take part. According to an evaluation by the University of Frankfurt, 80 per cent of participants rate the coaching as beneficial.
QUESTION: And why doesn’t Lower Saxony also incorporate this kind of coaching into its teacher training?
SIEHLMANN: It wouldn’t actually be a problem to implement it. There are plenty of experts in the field. But unfortunately, we aren’t being consistent enough in this regard. I believe it requires a political decision. It takes courage to invest the money required. Training the core seminar leaders in North Rhine-Westphalia to deliver the coaching sessions – that was, of course, expensive. But there is a real demand for these programmes. I hear that time and again.
Dr Günter Siehlmann, born in the class of 1949, taught in the field of Business Education/didactics of economic sciences at the University of Oldenburg until his retirement last year. He works for Soencksen & Teilhaber in the field of continuing professional development, including as a trainer in the coaching qualification programme for core seminar leaders in North Rhine-Westphalia. At this year’s BAK seminar day, he will be offering a workshop on the concept, implementation and effects of person-centred counselling with coaching elements in the North Rhine-Westphalia teacher training programme.
The BAK (Bundesarbeitskreis der Seminar- und FachleiterInnen e.V.) is the nationwide professional association of trainers in the second phase of teacher training, i.e. the teaching practice. Once a year, the trainers meet for a specialist conference. This year, the meeting will take place from 22 to 25 September at the University of Oldenburg. Its theme is ‘Reflection and Counselling’.