The Future of Education

Peer coaching promotes reflection that has been shown to enhance teaching practice. In particular, the reflective model of peer coaching has shown, in research and in practice, the capacity to build teacher self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is the belief that one can or cannot accomplish a task or set of actions. When someone has high self-efficacy, one sets higher goals, persists in pursuing those goals and will ultimately achieve. Working with a peer to gather evidence of improved student learning can lead to improved teacher efficacy, resulting in setting new goals and persisting to meet those goals. The reflective model of peer coaching is another set of eyes and ears in the classroom to gather data to inform and refine teaching. The data gathered becomes the basis for self-reflection. One particular research study which will be detailed in this article found that peer coaching improved teacher self-efficacy, enhanced collective efficacy, and improved teaching and learning. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of peer coaching on teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching literacy. Self-efficacy is more predictive when it is specific. The study also examined the teachers’ collective efficacy. Participation in peer coaching cycles was found to provide sources of efficacy information that influence teachers’ assessment of their self-efficacy and build the perceived collective efficacy of teachers in the school. Peer coaching improves teaching self-efficacy and influences collective teacher efficacy. Studies have shown that efficacious teachers have efficacious students. By engaging in the professional reflective practice of peer coaching, one can imagine a school filled with efficacious teachers and students!

Keywords Peer coaching, self-efficacy, professional development, reflective coaching, mirror model coaching

References
[1] Scigliano, D. (2017). Peer coaching: Creating and sustaining positive relationships. In Dominguez, N., Berkeley, B., Barka, N., Chrisman, T., Kelley, B. & Westfall, E. (Eds.). 10th annual mentoring conference proceedings (10th ed.): A Decade of Cultivating an Inclusive Mentoring Community [Special Issue 10]. The Chronicle of Mentoring and Coaching, 1(2), pp. 646-651.

[2] Scigliano, D., & Dellapenna, A. (2018). Peer coaching, self-efficacy and teacher learning. In Domingues, N., Berkeley, B., Barka, N., Chrisman, T., Kelley, B. & Wesfall, E. (Eds.), The Chronicle of Mentoring & Coaching. 2(1), 646-651.