When it comes to early childhood learning, growth is ubiquitous. Children get taller, smarter, funnier, stronger by the day, with seemingly little effort. When it comes to adults, growth is less clear-cut and generally associated with effort limited by our capacity or worse, with a level of scepticism that might even offend old dogs.
Belinda Quinn is a Shine Bright Early Years Advisor and accredited Growth Coach. This means she spends a good portion of most of her days either mentoring or coaching early years educators, who she says are never too old to learn new tricks and grow. When asked what the difference is between mentoring and coaching, she explains that one is about ‘putting in’ and the other is about ‘pulling out’.
“Mentoring is generally about using your knowledge and lived experience in a particular field to support and encourage others. You ‘put in’ to the other person what you already know. You share your wisdom with others, which is hugely beneficial. All of our Shine Bright Early Years Advisors are mentors, and they are an invaluable resource for our educators and teachers.
“Coaching is more about using proven techniques to find what a person finds meaningful. The idea is to ‘pull out’ their individual purpose and use it to build personal agency.
“Because coaching is about connecting with purpose, it is highly motivational because people move towards what they desire,” she said.
Pictured: Belinda Quinn, Early Years Advisor and accredited Growth Coach at Shine Bright
As a previous educator, then Early Years Advisor, Belinda was coached by Claire Philp-Clark who is a lecturer in Teacher Education at La Trobe University. During her PhD studies, Claire provided regular coaching to Belinda which informed her research on conversational methodology as a means of understanding workplace context and unpacking barriers. The intention is to create a pathway based on the things within a person’s control that are meaningful to them.
“I found the coaching sessions with Claire transformative to my practise, my role and my sense of self as a professional.
Repeated conversation about what is meaningful moves things forward.
“After implementing what I had learned and seeing its effectiveness at the Shine Bright Maiden Gully Early Years Hub, I decided I wanted to do more of it and to share what I had learned. This led to me undertaking six months of training to become an accredited Growth Coach.
“My training was specifically for education, especially at the primary and secondary school level, but the principles I’ve learned can be applied to any role in any profession,” Belinda said.
With her new-found love of coaching and firsthand experience of its effectiveness, Belinda knew that Growth Coaching could have a significant impact more broadly at Shine Bright. She says that many educators and teachers in the early years and school sector are overwhelmed, stressed and sometimes don’t believe that they have the skills, authority or opportunity to focus on their own meaning, which can create a disconnect to the work that they do. This is especially stressful in a profession that is largely comprised of people who are driven by the purpose of their work.
Over the course of 12 months, Belinda worked with Shine Bright colleagues and the Department of Education to have Growth Coaching included as a School Readiness Funding (SRF) menu item, which means individual services can opt to invest in Growth Coaching, funded by the Government, for the educators at their service. It was through this process of getting coaching funded that Belinda became aware of Growth Coaching International, an organisation specialising in coaching in education. Before she knew it, she was a student again.
Ten Shine Bright services are currently participating in Growth Coaching that Belinda is delivering thanks to School Readiness Funding. Around eight one-hour sessions are undertaken by Shine Bright educators each week.
Belinda uses a consistent approach in her Growth Coaching that starts with an onsite kindergarten visit to build a relationship with the colleague she is coaching and to understand the precise context in which they are working.
“The site visit is a scene-setter and an opportunity to provide support and encouragement through respectful conversation and active listening. I like to be sure that anyone receiving coaching understands that they can ask questions and I am there to encourage and affirm their practise.
“The next step is a one-hour coaching session conducted online, and we always start with what we call ‘contracting’ which is about providing a deeper understanding about the session, what coaching actually is, and what we hope to get out of the hour of conversation.
“People often have assumptions about what coaching is. It is sometimes linked with ideas about performance management. This could not be further from the reality or the intention, so I like to make this clear before the session commences.
Coaching is about conversation that is skilfully led using an evidence-based framework, and two-way dialogue that is respectful and empowering. There is no judgement.
At the heart of the Growth Coaching sessions that Belinda facilitates is reflection on one SRF goal that the participant selects based on what most resonates for them and brings meaning to their work. The coaching conversation centres on the chosen goal and often starts with conversation about what is working well so that participants have a positive mindset.
“I try to unpack and understand what’s important to the person and reflect that back to them to make sure I have accurately understood what has been said. Through this process of unpacking and reflecting, the person gains focus on what’s important to them.
“We wrap up the session with a clear goal for focus and the actions that we identify to achieve the goal. I’m agnostic about their goal, so long as it links back to the SRF goal. Although having said that, as a previous educator and Advisor, I sometimes do make suggestions about the goal itself if it relates directly to my previous experience. Pure coaching would demand that I don’t provide these types of suggestions but in our context, it makes sense for me to sometimes wear two hats,” Belinda explained.
Belinda is quick to build rapport, a positive thinker and she puts people quickly at ease. When asked to talk about the two things she loves most about coaching, she hesitates.
“Only two? That’s hard.
“But I do love knowing with confidence how I have helped a person experience themselves as an agent of change in their own work.
“And I love being able to shift a person in their perceptions from a deficit to a positive – seeing themselves as productive and purposeful. It’s incredibly fulfilling work,” she says.
When asked what success looks like from her perspective, Belinda is quick to list the many benefits of quality coaching to both individuals and to an organisation.
“For me, if the person I am coaching leaves the session with some tangible actions to help meet a meaningful goal that has been set during the session, then it has been worthwhile.
“Not all conversations are formulaic even though I have a framework I am using. The conversation must be led by the person being coached but with minimal prompting and maximum listening.
“I find that every time we do a reflection at the end of the session on what we have discussed, the person being coached can clearly articulate why the session was helpful, and how much they have increased in confidence and motivation. They have on-ground and actionable tactics to implement and that makes them feel empowered.
Sometimes, just formally carving out the time to have a supportive conversation that is respectful and goal oriented is in itself a success. Coaching is a different but positive experience for everyone
Belinda has her eye set on policy change to benefit all early year’s educators. She would love to see all leaders having access to regular coaching as part of the leadership role and sees this as fundamental to leadership success. She believes that Growth Coaching is a clear, simple and effective tool especially in the unpredictable environment of early childhood teaching and care. She believes that the best place to action change is at the individual level which is where coaching is at its most powerful.
“One of the things I love observing is an approach, initiative or idea that is being implemented in one of our kindergartens that has unknowingly come out of someone else’s coaching conversation.
“Every conversation I have feels positive and I am seeing what is being implemented. It’s affirming to me that every dollar spent on Growth Coaching pays off in staff retention, wellbeing, and connection to meaning.
“In the future, I’d love to be involved in some peer-reviewed research that proves the effectiveness of Growth Coaching. If we can tie that effectiveness to productivity and to how this links to positive outcomes for children, then we will see it implemented widely in our profession and that would be a dream,” Belinda said.
To find out more about Growth Coaching in early years education, contact Belinda Quinn, Shine Bright Early Years Advisor and Growth Coach. Email: Belinda.Quinn@shinebright.org.au