Appendix iii: Selected Research Instruments
As the coaching experience played such a significant role in the candidates' experience of the FRH, Round 1 interview schedules (G and I) for both candidates and coaches have been included for illustrative purposes. The schedule of interview questions for local authority representatives (K) has also been included.
Attachment G: Interview schedule for candidates (Time 1)
Evaluation of Flexible Routes to Headship Pilot
Motivation for participation in the programme
1. Originally, before being accepted into the FRH pilot, you were required to submit an application. What influenced your decision to do so-were there key individuals, experiences or events?
2. Was the SQH an option for you at the time? If it was, why did you apply for the pilot rather than the SQH?
Expectations of the programme
3. Thinking back to the circumstances when you applied, were there particular outcomes that you hoped for by being accepted into the pilot? What were these?
4. At the time, did you have any leadership aspirations? What were those aspirations? Was there any connection between these and your wish to participate in the programme?
5. Were you conscious, for example, of any particular strengths and weaknesses you may have had as an aspiring school leader?
Experiences so far
6. Looking back over the period since your acceptance into the programme, describe for me in general terms what your overall experience of the pilot has been like. What, for example, has been the most beneficial aspect for you? And the least beneficial?
7. Leaving aside the coaching which we'll deal with in a moment, let's turn now to the specific components of the programme… What can you tell me about the residentials: How did these work and were they useful? Why? Why not?
8. What about the Professional Learning Plan? Have you tried to link this to your original aspirations for yourself as a leader? How did you do this? Give me some idea of the goals you have set yourself.
9. What about the Emotional Competences Inventory ( ECI): did you learn anything new about yourself?
10. How about the Learning Log that FRH pilot participants have to maintain: Is this helpful? In what way?
Coaching
11. How often do you and the coach meet, and for how long each time? Describe a typical coaching session for me.12. Think back to when you were initially allocated a coach… did you hit it off straight away or were there teething problems? How did you get to know one another?
12. To what extent has your relationship with the coach gone through phases? Why might this be? Describe these for me.
13. Tell me what has been the most beneficial outcome for you of the coaching. Why is this?
14. Do you have a mentor or mentors? To what extent do you see coaching as similar to, or different from, mentoring?
15. Now tell me what the least beneficial experience has been. Why?
16. Looking back, if coaching for leadership development is going to be effective, what are the "bottom-line" conditions that have to be met?
17. Summing it up, then, has the coaching made a difference to the development of your leadership and management skills? To your attitudes and behaviour? Why? Why not?
Where to from here
18. At this stage of the pilot, has your experience made any difference to your leadership aspirations? Describe its impact on those aspirations for me now.
19. Do you talk about your aspirations with other people? Who?
20. To what extent can you visualise yourself in a headship role? Is this something that has only occurred as a result of the experience of the programme?
21. At this stage, is it likely when you have completed the programme that you will apply for a headship? Why? Why not?
22. Is there anything you want to add?
Attachment I: Interview schedule for coaches (Time 1)
Evaluation of Flexible Routes to Headship Pilot
Growth as a coach
1. I will explore your work with the candidates in a moment… Can we begin by discussing your own development as a coach…? Is this the first time you've taken on the role of coach?
2. So far, are you enjoying being a coach? What is so rewarding about it?
3. Is there a downside to coaching?
4. At this stage, do you think this is something you would do again?
Support for coaches
5. As a new coach, what support have you most needed from those responsible for this project?
6. Do you feel you have had their support so far?
7. If you were to be asked to undertake this role again, are there any pre-conditions you would insist on by way of support for coaches?
Coach of coaches
8. Explain to me how you have been prepared or trained for the role of coach?
9. Has this relationship between the coaches and their trainer been a profitable one? Why? Why not?
Coaching of candidates
10. Turning now to the coaching itself ..., what does coaching mean to you? Now summarise a typical coaching session for me.
10. There is an expectation that coaches will provide candidates with formative assessment in the pilot. Can you explain for me your understanding of "formative assessment" and how this works in the programme?
11. Outline for me the role of a coach in relation to the development of these aspiring school leaders?
12. Is there any difference between coaching and mentoring or are they one and same?
13. How would you describe the quality of your relationship with your candidates?
14. Do you think coaching relationships go through stages of development? If yes, what are those stages? Broadly speaking, at which stage are your relations with the candidates at the moment?
15. Do you think your candidates are making good progress in their development towards the SfH? What would you point to as evidence of that development?
16. Have you visited them in their schools yet? What happens during a school visit?
17. Summing it up… At this stage, what is your bottom line if coaching is going to be a success?
18. Is there anything you want to add?
Attachment K: Interview schedule for local authority personnel
Evaluation of Flexible Routes to Headship Pilot
Local authority leadership development
1. Let's begin by you summarizing for me the council's policy on school leadership development and giving me an indication of the range of programmes on offer.
2. Given what you just said, why did the council agree to take part in this pilot?
Attractions of the FRH pilot
3. Turning specifically to the FRH pilot…, from the council's point of view, what is it hoping will be achieved with this FRH scheme?
4. What is it that makes this pilot programme different and distinctive? What does it do that other alternative council programmes don't or can't do?
5. How are these other council programmes that you mentioned faring at the moment?
6. Do you any sense of why people have put themselves forward for the pilot?
Progress so far
7. At this stage, do you have any evidence about how well the pilot is travelling?
8. What is the explanation for the modifications that have been made, such as the use of residentials, the change in coaching personnel and the adoption of "medical rounds"?
Components of the Programme
9. As you are aware, the programme has a number of components to it, of which the main one is coaching… In your view, what might the coaching of leader aspirants achieve that can't be accomplished by other means?
10. Do you have any feedback or intelligence about whether the coaching is being well received by coaches and candidates?
Assessment of the coaching model
11. Given what we know from the research evidence about how complex and stressful headship roles can be… how confident are you and the council about the robustness of coaching as a basis for headship preparation in this local authority?
12. Playing devil's advocate for a moment… what about the argument that the most effective form of learning or preparation for a headship might be workplace-based? You don't think these candidates would be better off with responsibility for, say, a major school-based development project?
13. Do these candidates lose any sense of being part of a learning community, given that they are not working as part of a group?
14. Does it concern you that, unlike chartered teachers and graduates of the SQH, the candidates who complete this programme will not come away with a Masters degree or a graduate diploma?
The future
15. Do you have any confidence that, having taken part in this pilot programme, the candidates will apply for headship vacancies? Is there an expectation that they will and are they under any pressure to do so?
16. Suppose the evaluation of this pilot judges it to be a success and it is "rolled out" nationally… Can you identify for me what the implications would be for this local authority? Does the authority, for instance, have the necessary infrastructure ( e.g., training provision, sufficient coaches) for such a roll-out?
17. What about the provision of support for the range of activities candidates might undertake for their Professional Learning Plans? How would these be funded?
18. Would there be any other resource implications of such a roll-out for this local authority?
19. Do you think that this FRH programme is better suited the needs and capacities of some local authorities rather than others?
20. What might be the impact of a national roll-out of the FRH on existing council programmes ( e.g., the SQH)? Do you have any reason for thinking that the two programmes ( i.e., the SQH and the FRH) would widen the pool of prospective heads and produce a surge of applications OR would the two be in competition with one another by drawing from the same size aspirant pool and the same source of funding?
21. Is there anything you would like to add?