COACHING PROGRAM

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING UPDATE

Term one saw the launch of Footscray City College’s GROWTH coaching program, aimed at providing staff with the opportunity of further developing aspects of their classroom practice in order to maximise student outcomes. G.R.O.W.T.H stands for Goals, Reality, Options, Will, Tactics and Habits, and provides a structured approach for coaches and coachees to discuss and build upon great teaching within the college. The initiative reflects current thinking around teacher professional development, that suggests ‘the closer it happens to the classroom, the more impact it has on student learning’.  Six coaches were appointed to the team at the end of last year: Nicole Barker (Literacy Coach), Emma Crampton (Numeracy Coach), Prue Mann (Pedagogy Coach), Maria Chrisant (Pedagogy Coach), Victor Rajewski (Data Coach) and Tim Beare (STEAM Coach).

COACH PROFILES

NICOLE BARKER

Nicole, who focuses on developing classroom literacy strategies across the school, brings over a decade of classroom and leadership experience to her role. New to GROWTH coaching, Nicole believes the program will improve literacy outcomes for all students at the college and empower teachers to continuously reflect and develop their teaching skills. 

EMMA CRAMPTON

Emma Crampton, who is also the Maths Pathway Coordinator at the college, has worked in a range of schools providing both numeracy and digital pedagogy support to students and teachers. She sees GROWTH coaching as a great way for teachers to hone specific aspects of their practice close to the classroom to maximise impact. 

PRUE MANN

Prue has years of experience in coaching and leadership and is passionate about taking what teachers already do well and employing a growth based approach to see how they might be able to do it better. Prue’s coaching focus at the college is in pedagogy. She believes that GROWTH coaching is effective because it is authentic.

VICTOR RAJEWSKI

Victor has worked across data and IT management, and in IT teaching in several different schools, including The John Monash Science School. He brings this experience into his coaching to assist teachers in how to gather and use learning data to maximise student learning. For Victor, GROWTH coaching is a fantastic way to start conversations about learning and teaching and share knowledge and skills among the school.

TIM BEARE

With a degree from Deakin University in STEAM education and a long career in teaching technology in a variety of contexts, both in Australia and overseas, Tim comes to coaching with a lot to offer his coachees. Having established a STEAM program at FCC over the last two years, Tim is interested in challenging those he teaches to solve problems that will impact the world around them.

MARIA CHRISANT

Maria is a lifelong educator with extensive experience in coaching and leadership across a number of different schools. With a Masters in Positive Psychology from the University of Melbourne, she is passionate about the role ‘Pos Psych’ can play in supporting teachers to thrive in their roles.