Will I be a good teacher? This is a question that every trainee teacher should ask themselves, says Business Education specialist Günter Siehlmann. Coaching can help with this. Siehlmann explains how this works and why he would like to see such coaching for all trainee teachers at a conference for teacher trainers in Oldenburg.
QUESTION: Mr Siehlmann, you are an enthusiastic supporter of teacher coaching, which is already an integral part of teacher training in North Rhine-Westphalia. Why is that?
SIEHLMANN: I believe that there are teachers in our schools who have doubts about their academic appointment. You can sometimes hear that when they talk about their everyday life in the classroom and with their pupils. That is fatal. There are studies that show that dissatisfaction among teachers is particularly high. The burnout rate is also in the upper range. These are all indications that we should start at the training stage. It starts with the question of making the right career choice and identifying with the role of teacher. And that's exactly where coaching comes in.
QUESTION: Doesn't everyone starting out in the profession first have to adjust to their new role? Why do teachers need special coaching?
SIEHLMANN: There was once a book called "The teacher's fear of the pupil". This phenomenon still exists. You're not born a teacher. It's more of a development process. You gradually develop a self-image of the role of the teacher and professional expertise. What's more, being a teacher is not getting any easier. Pupils now challenge teachers in many more areas than in the past, and it's now increasingly about education and counselling. However, training still focuses too much on teaching and prepares too little for the reality in the classroom.
QUESTION: And that's what coaching does?
SIEHLMANN: Coaching at least addresses possible doubts that the trainee teachers themselves have. They think about their role and the expectations that are placed on them. Some then realise, for example, that they do not yet know enough about their educational tasks as a teacher and can then add to this. Others feel reassured by the coaching and approach their new role with more confidence. And still others realise during coaching that the teaching profession is not right for them and drop out of training. However, this tends to be an extreme case. And if this happens during coaching, they have at least made a conscious academic appointment decision.
QUESTION: How does coaching actually work?
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, i.e. the trainers, who are interdisciplinary and have been specially trained for the coaching sessions. The coaching itself is always a one-to-one meeting in which a specific situation or conflict is dealt with. There are usually two to three sessions. You could say that coaching is something like a 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 programme in NRW is that trainee teachers can choose the things that are right for them from a corridor of courses on offer. There is also coaching. For example, a trainee teacher realises that they are always under time pressure. During coaching, the causes and possible solutions are worked out. One way could then be to go back into the corridor and seek out time management training.
QUESTION: Is there any experience of the actual effect of coaching?
SIEHLMANN: The coaching is well received by the trainee teachers. Almost all of them take advantage of it. According to an evaluation by the University of Frankfurt, 80 per cent of participants rate the coaching as a benefit.
QUESTION: And why doesn't Lower Saxony also use coaching in teacher training?
SIEHLMANN: It would actually be no problem to implement it. There are enough experts on the subject. But unfortunately we are not consistent enough. I think it needs a political decision. You need the courage to put money into it. The training of the core seminar leaders in North Rhine-Westphalia for the coaching sessions - that was of course expensive. But there is a hunger for these programmes. I hear that again and again.
Dr Günter Siehlmann, born in 1949, taught in the field of Vocational and Business Education/Didactics of Economics at the University of Oldenburg until his retirement last year. He works for Soencksen & Teilhaber in the field of further education, including as a trainer in the coaching qualification programme for core seminar leaders in NRW. At this year's BAK Seminar Day, he is offering a workshop on the concept, implementation and effects of person-oriented counselling with coaching elements in the NRW preparatory service.
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 traineeship. The trainers meet once a year for a symposium. This year's meeting will take place from 22 to 25 September at the University of Oldenburg. Its motto is "Reflecting and counselling".