We’re all in this together: Using a peer coaching model to support middle leaders’ development

In this perspective piece, we examine the key drivers in a model of peer coaching that is being trialled at the Veritas Multi Academy Trust (MAT) to support the development of a middle leadership team (Lofthouse and Hall, 2014). Vision and values Coaching has been recognised as highly effective professional development practice (Cordingley et al., 2015), but what does it look like in a high-performing education system? In our busy professional lives, it might be too easy to include coaching in a MAT or school-wide plan for improvement without fully engaging in what staff and governors collectively understand by coaching. Investing in building a secure and shared understanding of what coaching is, and the vision of what a coaching culture looks like across the MAT, is imperative. In considering how coaching can be embedded in an organisation’s culture, it is important to be mindful of the research highlighting the challenges of developing coaching (Lofthouse, 2016), specifically