Learning Coaches

Cymraeg

Inside ‘The Mentoring Process’

What goes on during the Learning Coaches training sessions? Marian Cooper, Publications and Web Content Editor, joined the group in Bridgend to find out

In September and October I went along to Bridgend’s Business Support and Innovation Centre for the two training days for The Mentoring Process.

After a welcome from Alyson Acreman, Learning Coaches Manager, Day 1 began with the first of three short presentations from Alan Evans, Module Leader, providing the theory to back up the day’s interactive sessions. The day was not about being lectured to, however, and we soon split up into two groups.

I joined the group led by facilitator Emily Thomson. We started with a short introductory exercise that revealed those on the course had a variety of job roles, from teacher and youth worker to more dedicated coaching roles. This diversity brought several different perspectives to our discussions.

For many of the exercises we worked in small groups and pairs and fed back our conclusions to the others. For instance we had to decide what was and was not important to the role of mentoring: How important is empathy? What about sympathy? Is it important to have a good knowledge of the organisation? In other exercises we considered what might make a young person come to see a learning coach, and discussed how we might deal with specific scenarios. The feedback sessions throughout the day were very lively, as the learning coaches shared their experiences and exchanged ideas.

Later in the day Emily presented us with some theory on learning styles and we put it into practice by planning how we might help learners with different styles to understand a particular subject. We also considered the importance of setting targets and went through the process of setting them for an imaginary learner and for ourselves. Other exercises gave us more ideas about what might happen in a coaching session, but I don’t want to give away everything we did as it would spoil it for anyone who has not yet attended the course.

Day 2 began with another plenary session in which Alan introduced the topic of support and challenge. Heading back into the groups we had been in on Day 1, we looked in pairs at some case studies – how would we support and challenge young people with these particular problems? The exercise showed up some differences in style, and Emily reinforced the point that it is important to use an approach that reflects your personality.

Alan then led a short plenary session on learning needs analysis and described some of the resources available to us. Back in groups once more we focused on how we might gain a better understanding of learners’ thoughts and attitudes by using or adapting tools such as evaluation questionnaires, and considered Bernard’s theory of ‘habits of the mind’.

A further presentation by Alan on evaluation led into a discussion about the objectives of the course and how we might evaluate our own progress. In other sessions we undertook for ourselves some of the things we might expect learners to do, and discovered they’re not always as easy as they first appear!

Overall I found both days very interesting. I gained the impression that aside from what we learnt, it was very valuable for the learning coaches to be able to talk to one another and realise they’re not alone. By the end of the module people were swapping contact details, and it is obvious that the course is helping to form a support network.

The learning coaches’ views
What did they like best about the The Mentoring Process training days?

‘It was warm and welcoming. Emily was fab.’ Tracy Sobey, Learning and Achievement Mentor, Key Stage 4

‘It was incredibly well organised, and it was lovely to meet people from different backgrounds.’ Lisa Edwards, Lecturer in Caring

‘The best things were the interaction between people and seeing the need for learning coaches as a whole throughout the school and workplace.’ Roger Evans, Coordinator of PSE and Progress Files

‘I really liked the support that the group is able to give. It’s important for children to be supported - now I feel like there’s a support network that I’ve accessed.’ Helen Weston, Head of History and Pastoral Head

November 2006