Building a coaching culture in Irish schools; challenges and opportunities: A mixed-methods study

Abstract: Coaching is a relatively new leadership style in Irish schools, but its potential is being supported by the Department of Education and Skills since 2015. This study considers the challenges and obstacles to building a coaching culture within Irish schools, recognising that as a leadership style, it is relatively unknown. It considers school cultures and the challenges as well as the opportunities leaders face in building a coaching culture. A mixed methods study consisting of a quantitative survey (n = 48) followed by semi-structured interviews (n = 12) was the chosen method, using statistical analysis (SPSS) and thematic analysis (Nvivo) to analyse the data. The results indicate that leadership coaching facilitates reflective practice for leaders and those they manage, leading to a distribution of practice that facilitates distributed leadership, therein building leadership capacity and enhancing teacher/leader well-being. However, time, workload and creating a culture of coaching in schools are still challenges, as leadership coaching is still a new and unknown leadership concept. The findings suggest that it is vital that the support services endorse its value, that time is allocated to supporting coaching and that staff need both CPD and further education on what coaching entails in order to build a coaching culture in Irish schools.