An exploration of how newly established secondary school headteachers engage with coaching and mentoring in their first year in post.
Mentoring for secondary school headteachers in their first year in post was first proposed as a systematic strategy in the 1980s following research into the first years of headship (Weindling and Earley, 1987). Coaching and mentoring were introduced as part of a response to the concern that new headteachers were not sufficiently prepared before taking up the post. Coaching and mentoring are now incorporated into all National College for School Leadership (NCSL: currently the National College for the Leadership of Schools and Children‟s Services) leadership programmes. However, there is a dearth of current research exploring how secondary school headteachers use coaching and mentoring in their first year in post. Systematic reviews show that previous research has generally focused on improving coaching and mentoring schemes and thus is mainly evaluative. In contrast, this study focuses on the headteacher perspective. The study works within a social constructivist paradigm, taking a grounded theory approach because of the dearth of available theory. Data were collected from six newly appointed secondary school headteachers. Each was interviewed three times during their first year in post. After transcription each interview was analysed and coded and the results informed subsequent interviews. NVivo was used to manage the data and to develop codes. Preliminary findings were discussed with practising coaches and their comments contribute to the discussion. The study finds that new headteachers exercise significant agency in their coaching and mentoring engagements, including the choice of coach mentor, and the coach mentoring agenda. It finds that new headteachers seek coaching and mentoring beyond the assumed formal dyadic arrangements. Contributions to knowledge include the Confidence Loop model; three new models of coaching and mentoring; and a deeper questioning of the place the theory and practice of performativity should have in the coach mentoring relationship.
coaching, mentoring, Doctorate in Coaching and Mentoring
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