Contextual coaching: levering and leading school improvement through collaborative professionalism

Purpose The research examines how contextual coaching (Gorrell and Hoover, 2009; Valentine, 2019) can act as a lever to build collaborative professionalism (Hargreaves and O’Connor, 2018) and lead to school improvement. Design/methodology/approach The multicase study (Stake, 2013) draws on two bespoke examples of contextual coaching in education and uses the 10 tenets of collaborative professionalism as a conceptual framework for its abductive analysis. Data from both cases were collected through interviews, focus groups and documentation. Findings The findings demonstrate that effective contextual coaching leads to conditions underpinning school improvement. Specifically, there are patterns of alignment with the 10 tenets of collaborative professionalism. Contextual coaching is founded on mutual dialogue, joint work, collective responsibility and collaborative inquiry. In more mature coaching programmes, collective autonomy, initiative and efficacy emerge. There is also evidence that opportunities exist for contextual coaching to be further aligned with the remaining tenets. The study offers insight into how school improvement can be realized by the development of staff capacity for teacher leadership through contextual coaching. Research limitations/implications The impact of coaching in education is enhanced by recognizing the importance of context and the value of iterative design and co-construction. Practical implications The principles of contextual coaching are generalizable, but models must be developed to be bespoke and to align with each setting. Collaborative professionalism offers a useful framework to better design and implement contextual coaching programmes. Originality/value The research introduces contextual coaching in education and how coaching can enhance collaborative professionalism in schools

Defining and exploring pracademia: Identity, community, and engagement

Purpose The aim of this paper is to define pracademia and conceptualise it in relation to educational contexts. This paper contributes to and stimulates a continuing and evolving conversation around pracademia and its relevance, role and possibilities. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a conceptual exploration. It draws upon existing and emerging pieces of literature, the use of metaphor as a meaning-making tool, and the positionalities of the authors, to develop the concept of pracademia. Findings The authors posit that pracademics who simultaneously straddle the worlds of practice, policy, and academia embody new possibilities as boundary spanners in the field of education for knowledge mobilization, networks, community membership, and responding to systemic challenges. However, being a pracademic requires the constant reconciling of the demands of multi-membership and ultimately, pracademics must establish sufficient legitimacy to be respected in two or more currently distinct worlds. Practical implications This paper has implications for knowledge mobilization, networks, boundary spanners, leadership, professional learning, and connecting practice, policy, and research. While the authors are in the field of education, this exploration of pracademia is relevant not only to the field of education but also to other fields in which there is a clear need to connect practice/policy with scholarship. Originality/value This paper provides a new definition of pracademia and argues that pracademia identifies an important yet relatively unknown space with many possibilities in the field of education

C-Terminal Incorporation of &#945-Trifluoromethyl Substituted Amino Acids into Peptides via <i>in situ</i>-Deprotection of N-Teoc-Derivatives

Hollweck W, Sewald N, Michel T, Burger K. C-Terminal Incorporation of &amp;#945-Trifluoromethyl Substituted Amino Acids into Peptides via &lt;i&gt;in situ&lt;/i&gt;-Deprotection of N-Teoc-Derivatives. Liebigs Ann./Recueil. 1997;1997(12):2549-2551