Helen has been teaching for 16 years. She has been Head of Religious Studies at a rural comprehensive for 10 years, where she led the school to achieving the RE Gold Quality Mark. Helen has also been Staff Development Lead for 5 years. She has been involved in subject development projects including being Suffolk lead for RE for 3 years. Here, she was part of a project to develop RE in East Anglia and helped to facilitate workshops for teachers at both primary and secondary level. Helen has led a whole school improvement project on marking and assessment with a focus on DIRT style marking. She is also part of the QA team that oversees the quality of teaching and learning across the school.
‘People fascinate me. Teachers spend each day working with such an eclectic mix of individual pupils and wanting to get the best out of them and to help them develop. As the staff professional development lead, it is my job to do the same with teachers. They too are an eclectic mix of professionals who thrive on helping pupils to make the most progress. But how does one ensure that teachers progress, live up to the demands of Ofsted, while enabling them to have positive professional wellbeing? I strongly believe that skilled teachers are the heart and soul of every school and are the greatest resource in a pupil’s education. The CoachED model enables teachers to be valued professionals, while encouraging them to move forward with pedagogical changes and providing time to reflect on their own skill set; giving them the tools to move themselves forward.’
Mat has been teaching for over 27 years and in that time has been a Head of Year, Head of Department, SCITT Tutor and Professional Tutor. He successfully attained a Distinction in his Masters, that was focussed on Coaching in an educational setting. He has been Coaching for over 15 years and currently works for a local charity as a Coach. He has also been an Examiner and Trainer for AQA, delivering key sessions on examination criteria and assessment. Earlier on in his career, Mat also won a European Award for Languages whilst working on a collaborative project. He is part of the QA team, that oversees Teaching and Learning at school.
‘I never really gave much thought to my Wellbeing before, particularly within a professional context. I always accepted what I was doing and carried on with my day to day agenda. I never really reflected on the day or the issues that arose from it, but rather shut them out as I left for home, only to re-open them the next day. This was until I began my Masters in Coaching and realised how important it was to be able to open up about oneself and not close oneself off and hope that all will be well. It is so important to be able to talk and be listened to. This is why the the CoachED model for teachers was created, because as a professional, one must be self-reflective.’
CoachED 