Recommended Readings

Developing teachers and teaching

Coaching is an emerging field in education which has gathered momentum in recent years. The implications of this are that many models have developed, some of which are linked to programmes or initiatives whilst others are stand alone.
The lack of accreditation for coaching can make it challenging for schools to assess the value of a particular approach. Some of the most popular coaching models have rapidly gained credibility in
practical terms but they may not necessarily have been validated through research.
The purpose of this publication is to connect, extend and even challenge your existing knowledge about and experience of coaching so you can improve coaching practice in your professional contexts. This guide to coaching is distinct from and complementary to instructional coaching. It is aimed at any educator with an interest in
understanding how coaching can support teachers’ learning and practice.
This guide to coaching therefore is not a definitive guide, but instead aims to offer you an insight into the field. This publication is a collection of ideas about coaching to support teachers to develop teaching.
To keep the ‘quick’ format, the guide is written without citations but draws broadly on the work of practitioners and researchers associated with CollectivED. A list of thematic references is provided for further reading.

Provides a useful framework for understanding the dynamics of leading change. Its easy to read and provides many practical and positive strategies to use in engaging staff in making changes.

Change is hard. It doesn't have to be.

We all know that change is hard. It's unsettling, it's time-consuming, and all too often we give up at the first sign of a setback.

But why do we insist on seeing the obstacles rather than the goal? This is the question that bestselling authors Chip and Dan Heath tackle in their compelling and insightful book. They argue that we need only understand how our minds function in order to unlock shortcuts to switches in behaviour.

Illustrating their ideas with scientific studies and remarkable real-life turnarounds - from the secrets of successful marriage counselling to the pile of gloves that transformed one company's finances - the brothers Heath prove that deceptively simple methods can yield truly extraordinary results.

This book is an excellent update on the latest information about brain physiology with a specific focus on what happens at adolescence. It outlines the risks for adolescents and “Brain Hostile” school practices that fail them. There is list of these practices which can be used as a self-review tool. This is flowed by a list of “Brain Friendly” practices. The book is full of practical examples of strategies and activities that work well for adolescents and each chapter ends with a summary of “Takeaways”. Although connections are made throughout with the physiological rationale for the suggestions, the book is very readable and a teacher-friendly resource.

This book challenges some of the traditional approaches to accelerating student learning. It provides a framework of eight high impact instructional approaches that can move struggling students towards success. Rather than remediation, which Suzy says slows students down, the eight practices work together to address gaps in vocabulary, reading, basic skills and motivation in the context of new learning. Even better, these strategies build academic achievement in all students, not just those at risk of academic failure. This book is practical , a very easy read and is ideal for leaders as well as teachers. You are likely to want several copies in your school!

Networked learning communities: A powerful school improvement strategy for school leaders!

This book describes strategies that underpin powerful school improvement through the creation of dynamic networked learning communities across schools. The authors, through their work in North America and England use sample school narrative to show how NLCs can enhance instruction, increase student performance and empower local professional communities. They describe and give examples of collaborative inquiry that challenge teachers’ thinking and then generates new learning whilst fostering trusting relationships both within and across schools. As you are working to engage in Communities of Learning (CoL), this book gives you some structures and ideas to consider as you are building cross school relationships and creating a process for long term, sustainable engagement and change. The diagrams are particularly useful and will support your discussion and planning and through the authors’ research, will enhance your process and the outcomes.

This is our book of the year. It begins by outlining recent discoveries about brain physiology that help us to understand implications for managing change at a personal and organisational level. It provides six steps to help you help others to solve problems, make decisions and give feedback as well as how to work with teams, students and whole organisations, like a school. This book is highly readable and provides practical strategies for any school leader in managing relationships, building teams and leading change and development.

This is a highly readable and practicable book that defines coaching and outlines how to develop the skills needed for effective coaching. It covers building rapport, focused listening, effective questioning, developing a flexible style of influence and giving constructive feedback. It is very useful for middle and senior school leaders involved in appraisals and those supporting other colleagues.

This book has proved very useful in developing schools professional learning and development programmes. It has a strong research base and is a combination of theory, evidence and case studies of practice.

It will help school leaders develop an in-depth understanding of Helen Timperley’s five dimensions of the inquiry and knowledge building cycle and each section begins with a useful guiding question. The final chapters shifts the focus to developing relevant leadership capabilities. This is an excellent resources for developing leaders across the school and the case studies gives practical examples that can be used for discussion or reflection.

This book describes how people function- why they sometimes function well and, at other times, behave in ways that are self-defeating or destructive. In this book Carol Dweck describes:

How these patterns originate in people’s self-theories
Their consequences for the person — for achievement, social relationships, and emotional well-being
The experiences that create them
This book also includes simple student surveys that are helpful for determining how students see themselves as learners and can provide valuable data for teachers as they think about student needs.

This is an easy read book for educational leaders and teachers who are interested in developing strategies for building student learning self-efficacy.

Belonging is an International No.1 Bestseller. In a period when we have gone through so much together, yet spent so much time apart, it is a relevant read about unity and establishing a shared purpose.

Owen Eastwood is a New Zealander, based in the UK, and he reveals in the book what has made him one of the most-in-demand performance coaches in the world. He takes the Māori concept of whakapapa, an idea that embodies the human need to belong and represents a powerful belief that each of us is a part of an unbreakable chain of people who share an identity and culture. He weaves together insights about how these powerful ideas are being applied around the world in high performance settings in sport, business, the arts and the military.

There are some compelling and practical messages in Belonging for Principals and other Senior Leaders.

Our Principal and Deputy Principal professional learning groups have been thoroughly enjoying this book. Daniel Coyle’s The Culture Code (2018) delves into the findings of psychologists, organisational behaviour theorists and his own first-hand knowledge of the contemporary business world to provide answers. Where does great culture come from? How do you build and sustain it in your group, or strengthen a culture that needs fixing? What makes some groups more effective than others? Why do some teams outperform other seemingly evenly matched competitors? Why were the kindergarten students smarter than university business school students?

As well-researched as it is practical, this study of group dynamics is packed full of illuminating ideas and considered, hands-on advice about getting the best performance out of groups.

Here are some of the many great quotes from the book:
"The road to success is paved with mistakes well handled."
"Vulnerability doesn’t come after trust—it precedes it. Leaping into the unknown, when done alongside others, causes the solid ground of trust to materialize beneath our feet."
"Hire people smarter than you. Fail early, fail often. Listen to everyone’s ideas. Face toward the problems. B-level work is bad for your soul. It’s more important to invest in good people than in good ideas."
"Give a good idea to a mediocre team, and they’ll find a way to screw it up. Give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they’ll find a way to make it better."

This is an enlightening book that gives leaders an understanding of how to use the learning of Polynesian navigators today in our kura. The book weaves together several strands including:
1. Waka, the history of wayfinding, and what makes a successful wayfinder
2. Māori culture and values
3. Leadership theories and practices
4. Application of wayfinding principles in a modern organisation context
5. Waypoint Practices – a list of bullet points at the end of each chapter to use in practice or in a reflective manner

Professor Chellie Spiller, of Ngāti Kahungunu and Pākehā lineage, is based in Auckland and is a professor at the University of Waikato Management School. Chellie has extensive corporate experience in management, tourism and marketing, holding senior executive positions in New Zealand and abroad. She brings this experience to her academic work and leadership and management training and development programmes.

The Educators’ Guide to Whole-school Wellbeing addresses challenges faced by schools wanting to improve wellbeing. While many schools globally now understand the need to promote and protect student wellbeing, they often find themselves stuck – not knowing where to start, what to prioritise, or how to implement whole-school change.

This book provides companionship through rich stories from schools around the world that have created wellbeing practices that work for their schools. It guides educators through processes that help create individualised, contextualised school wellbeing plans. With chapters addressing ‘why wellbeing?’, ‘what is "whole school?"’, change dynamics, measurement, staff wellbeing, coaching, cultural responsiveness, and how to build buy-in, it is the first of its kind. Balancing research and practice for each topic with expert practitioner and researcher insights, this book gives schools access to best-practice guidance from around the world in a user-friendly format, designed for busy educators.

Schools have used this book to review and develop processes and practical understanding of how they can further build a wellbeing culture.