ICF awards Isikkent Schools for groundbreaking coaching results
Though usually associated with corporate business, professional coaching has also been effectively implemented in schools. Turkey’s Isikkent Schools are an award-winning example
ICF has awarded Turkey's Isikkent Schools for their exceptional use of coaching. Isikkent's innovative programme extends itself to not only administrators and teachers, but the surrounding community
A growing body of research shows that, for organisations of all sizes and in all sectors, coaching gets results. According to the 2013 International Coach Federation Organisational Coaching Study, professional coaching is utilised effectively by a variety of organisations. It yields a host of positive organisational impacts, including leadership development and performance, increased levels of employee engagement, reduced attrition and improved teamwork.
Turkey’s Isikkent Schools have experienced the benefits of coaching first-hand. The application of coaching in the educational setting is nothing new: since the 1990s, coaching has been a key component of many schools’ leadership- and faculty-development plans. However, the leaders who spearheaded Isikkent’s innovative programme wanted to extend coaching’s impacts beyond administrators and teachers, and lay the groundwork for a programme impacting the lives of everyone affiliated with the Isikkent community.
Coaching culture has contributed to positivity and the productivity in the school for all parties
In recognition of Isikkent’s exceptional use of coaching, the ICF awarded the school the 2013 ICF International Prism Award. The Prism Award honours organisations that have achieved the highest standard of excellence in the implementation of coaching programmes, fulfilling rigorous professional standards, addressing key strategic goals, shaping organisational culture, and yielding discernible and measurable positive impacts.
Make an investment
Implementing a professional coaching programme demands significant buy-in from an organisation’s leadership, as well as the willingness of individuals at all levels to invest substantial time and funding. Members of the Isikkent community were ready to make this investment, with administrators allocating 24 percent of the school’s professional development budget to coach training for teachers.
In 2009, school leaders reached out to Vedat Erol, an ICF Professional Certified Coach with more than 20 years of experience as a coach and trainer in educational settings. In collaboration with coaching colleagues, Erol developed and delivered specialised coach-skills training to faculty and staff. Interested teachers also had the opportunity to enrol in a full coach-training programme. More than 40 teachers took advantage of this opportunity.
Implementing the scheme
Coaching is available to everyone in the school community. The programme is closely aligned with Isikkent’s guidance services, and, with a parent’s permission, students are encouraged to schedule sessions with teachers who have completed the full coach-training programme. The coach-teachers also coach Isikkent teachers and parents on a voluntary basis.
All Isikkent’s teachers and support staff complete several hours of coach-specific training in order to better understand and support the school’s coaching culture. Coach training is also integrated into Isikkent’s new-teacher orientation.
Since coaching’s implementation, disciplinary referrals have decreased, graduating students’ rates of acceptance to their first-choice universities have increased and enrolment has grown. The benefits of coaching at Isikkent are appreciable, Erol says: “Coaching culture has contributed to positivity and the productivity in the school for all parties.”
For further information visit coachfederation.org/need, or coachfederation.org/prism
