ÌÇÐÄVlog

Coaching is a common aspect of many leadership courses these days - and rightly so.

At its best, coaching supports people to think deeply, improve questioning, seek their own answers to challenges and develop confidence and agency.

However, one issue can be knowing what course to choose to develop these skills. There are many out there, but they won’t necessarily offer the right focus for those taking part - especially for a trust or school with specific challenges and opportunities.

Build your own

That’s why, as part of our leadership development work, we built our own coaching programme, encompassing three components:

• a Level 5 Coaching Professional apprenticeship qualification, which is funded by the Growth and Skills Levy
• a Level 5 Diploma in Coaching, which provides the programme with academic rigour
• professional accreditation from the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC)

The apprenticeship element covers the practical skills and has the benefit of covering the cost of the programme with up to £5,000 of levy funding; the diploma adds academic depth and theory, while the EMCC accreditation provides professional credibility.

What’s more, several of us at LETTA have taken part in an EMCC-accredited course, so we know it has value. We also saw that by merging it with the other two components, it could add further value to the offer.

To make this happen, the Trust first needed to be approved to deliver apprenticeship qualifications, and then we sought approval from an awarding organisation to deliver the Diploma qualification.

Finally, and currently, we are working through the process of accreditation with EMCC to ensure that our coaches-in-training will be eligible for professional recognition at the end of the programme.

Joining everything together

Of course, building this so it would feel like one coherent programme was a challenge, but it had to be done to ensure the learner experience felt joined-up, without unnecessary duplication.

As such, starting last summer, we worked to map the criteria together into a bespoke training programme that we can tailor specifically to our leaders’ needs - in terms of both content and time, so it would not be unduly burdensome.

The outcome is a course that runs for 14 months and covers 326 hours of study across a blend of face-to-face sessions, online learning, guided study such as reading and podcasts, practical coaching hours, observation, written tasks and presentations.

The course is overseen by LETTA and delivered with the help of professional external coaches. Those taking part are supported by qualified coaches, as well as a professional tutor.

Following a period of practical learning, participants will undertake an end-point assessment (EPA) to gain the Level 5 Coaching Professional apprenticeship qualification.

This is administered by an external end-point assessment organisation (EPAO) and is an objective, impartial assessment of knowledge, skills and behaviours.

Separately from the apprenticeship qualification, the Diploma in Coaching Level 5 comprises a portfolio of evidence that is assessed internally; this portfolio is also used to complete applications for EMCC Global Individual Accreditation (EIA) and to gain professional recognition as a practitioner coach.

Getting started

Our first cohort of 16 school leaders started the programme just before the February half term, and will study until March 2027.

The participants are from schools and multi-academy trusts of varying sizes across Hackney and Tower Hamlets and include executive headteachers, primary and secondary headteachers, assistant headteachers and a variety of other senior roles.

Because this is not an off-the-shelf qualification, we have been able to design it specifically for school leaders in these two London boroughs, rooting it in the day-to-day realities of these areas.

We recognised the challenge of balancing quality and rigour with workload and time commitment, and this was a key consideration in planning the programme, to ensure leaders have access to impactful professional learning while also remaining mindful of the day-to-day pressures of their jobs.

The start of a journey

Ultimately, if we can help leaders create space for deeper reflection, better thinking and the opportunity to empower staff, then the impact will ripple out far beyond this first cohort.

It’s early days, but we certainly hope to run it again for another cohort - no doubt with some necessary tweaks and adjustments based on first-iteration feedback.

Because that’s the key aim here - it’s not about gaining qualifications; it’s about strengthening the quality of leadership conversations and embedding coaching as a daily leadership habit. After all, schools are only as strong as the conversations within them.

Ben Sperring is director of school improvement at LETTA Trust