Instructional Coaching - Instructional Coaching - Should Coaching be Confidential?

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Aug192010

Should Coaching be Confidential?

Thursday, August 19, 2010 at 10:30PM

In most types of coaching, whether life coaching, executive coaching or instructional coaching, the practice of coaching occurs within confidential relationships. There are at least three reasons for this.

First, when coaches deal with what matters to teachers, they are privileged to see and hear information most others will not see and hear. To share that private information with others is a violation of a person’s privacy. Second, coaching is much more productive when collaborating teachers are open about their ideas, thoughts, and fears. For many teachers knowing that coaching conversations are confidential makes it easier for them to talk about what really matters. Third, when we ensure that coaching is confidential, we increase the chances that teachers will choose to work with a coach.

However, not everything a coach does, can or should be confidential. For example, coaches need to keep principals informed of whom they are working with and what they are working on. ICs working with the Kansas Coaching Project discriminate between what should and should not be shared by saying that coaches do not share data or evaluative information. We communicate clearly to teachers that coaching is nonjudgmental. Coaches are partners helping teachers learn new practices, not evaluators. Indeed, in most cases ICs have no administrative training on how to evaluate teachers, so it would not be appropriate for them to evaluate teachers anyway.

In some schools confidentiality is not an issue. In especially positive, safe settings, teachers may be more than comfortable having their coach share any information. Indeed, Michael Fullan (2008) identifies transparency as one of his six secrets of change, stating that “when transparency is consistently evident, it creates an aura of ‘positive pressure’ - pressure that is experienced as fair and reasonable, pressure that is actionable in that it points to solutions, and pressure that ultimately is inescapable” (p. 14).

To create settings where such transparency is possible may require baby steps. In a culture where there is not a great deal of trust, confidential coaching can be the default mode, but over time, if teachers agree, more information can be shared. The greater the lack of trust initially, the more important confidentiality usually is. What is most important is that principals and coaches clearly delineate what they will and will not discuss, communicate that policy across the school, act consistently with the policy. Perceived betrayal of trust can severely damage a coaching relationship. For example, when a teacher says something to a coach that she think will be kept privately by the coach, and then discovers that what she said was shared with others, it may be impossible for the coach to ever win back the teacher’s trust.

This is the first of several weekly excerpts from my new book, Unmistakable Impact: A Partnership Approach for Dramatically Improving Instruction. There will be one post a week up until the book is released in November.

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Reader Comments (26)

I totally agree, Jim. As an Instructional Coach confidentiality is a very important part of my job and has helped with developing the trust of staff over time. By being transparent, administration and myself have been very up front and are signing partnership agreements between us that we are sharing with staff. Staff are informed about what I will share with Administration and there is clarity to the role we all play in improving our craft of teaching. I look forward to reading your next book and seeing you in Red Deer in October.

August 19, 2010 |

kwedman

Thanks! I needed this at exactly this moment.

August 20, 2010 |

Lynn FUller

Having now retired from my coaching job I can look back and see how important confidentiality is but it seems to depend on specific situations. There were times when a teacher has received an unfavorable evaluation and wants to do something to improve but does not want the administrator to be aware of everything being done, in such cases that confidence must be respected. In other situations teachers just don't want others to know that they are seeking help, they seem to think there is some stigma attached to seeking that help. Of course there is not but you must respect their wishes to remain confidential. And of course there are some situations where confidentiality is a Union thing, and this seems to occur when there are adversarial roles at play.

It occurs to me that the role of the IC is often times much like the role of a spouse or SO and must be handled with great thought and care.

August 20, 2010 |

jreyes

I really appreciate this information. I think there is a balance between what is shared and what is confidential given the trusting relationship aspect of coaching. As a principal, who sees my role as coaching teachers to get better rather than judge them and write them off, having a partnership with the instructional coach who is also working with an identified teacher would seem to only be better for the teacher. Otherwise, in my district right now, the coach works with the teacher and I work with the teacher and no information is shared unless the teacher chooses to share it. I understand the need for confidentiality, but it seems like we're not getting the best outcomes when we are doing such separate things. The teacher usually does share information, but we lack the 3 way conversation that seems to be more powerful.

August 20, 2010 |

Beth Russell

I particularly appreciate these statements, "Coaches are partners helping teachers learn new practices, not evaluators. Indeed, in most cases ICs have no administrative training on how to evaluate teachers, so it would not be appropriate for them to evaluate teachers anyway." As one of the first two instructional coaches hired for our large, rural school district last year, this approach helped me reassure skeptical teachers that I was not there to judge them. Perhaps their fear was more pronounced because I was now coaching in the same school where I previously taught. My colleagues weren't sure if I was still "one of them" and or now a quasi-administrator. I addressed this issue head-on each time I tried to enroll a teacher by explaining the partnership philosophy. Reminding them that quite frankly, I wasn't qualified to evaluate them seemed to help. Nevertheless, if administration does not commit to and promote the same philosophy, it's hard to gain teacher trust.

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My district has not invested in instructional coaches and this is a practice I would like to see adopted. I am very interested in becoming an instructional coach and I had not even thought of the confidentiality involved. I want to help all teachers not just the few in my grade level or the teachers close by. My vision is to find out what works through observation and evaluation and share that data with staff so we can all effectively use our curriculum. Now I understand that this can only take place if there is a trust between the instructional coach and the teachers. This weblog contained information I needed to know and I will continue to login as I research this profession further.

November 17, 2010 |

L. Rodriguez

Totally agree with this, Jim. Confidentiality is key to building the trust between coach and teacher. As you mentioned in one of your books, even the sharing of good things happening in a classroom could be considered a breach.

January 12, 2011 |

Joanne Romano

We agree that coaching should not be evaluations. In the coaching role, we should be able to have open and honest communication with building administration as to what we see and discrepancies that are seen and the needs of the schools. We are interested in seeing partnership agreements other people have used between coaches, administrators, and teachers.

January 18, 2011 |

Joe

We should not be seen as evaluators. We agree that coaches need to keep principals informed about whom they are working with and what they are working on, but to a certain extent. We don’t want to lose the trust we have built up between ourselves and the teacher.

January 18, 2011 |

Instructional coaches

We agree that trust is crucial between teachers and coaches, but we believe transparency is the ultimate goal for the school and then there's no need to keep the instructors' growth confidential.

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