Education - Develop the teaching skills that aren't taught in college

The Background
It all began in 2003. Gazing’s work into improving performance had started to focus into the niche area of improving performance under pressure. All high performing organisations/individuals need not only to do their stuff well, but need to be able to cope with pressure – from what ever the source – shareholders, media, workload, government, competitors - all additional factors that can take attention away from the things you need to do in your profession. This was now an area where Gazing felt they had the upper hand on both.

On the back of the work we were doing in Sport, a number of England Rugby coaches, themselves ex or part-time teachers asked us why we weren’t providing the same support to teachers as they were receiving. The argument that teachers, under government scrutiny to improve performance (never mind parental pressure) were now facing immense behavioural issues, additional administration tasks, inspections etc. had little capacity left to do the job they were employed for.

Gazing’s offices in New Zealand and in the UK both looked into the situation. What they found in terms of support for teachers was dismal. After qualification it seemed all that is available are the traditional training courses designed purely to provide information – NOT to change behaviour and certainly not designed to provide the mental skills required to cope with intense amounts of pressure.

Our approach
Using the same approach we take with elite sportsmen and women, we have designed a framework for teachers that contains all the components they need for elite Classroom Performance – including all the factors that can stop them and their students from focussing on useful process. We then train our teachers to become skilful in using the map over a series of sessions, such that they develop the mental capacity to focus on the stuff they should do, rather than becoming overwhelmed by pressure.

Results so far
Although it is still early days, our Classroom Performance Map has been tested across the spectrum of schools, from the highest performing schools to those in Special Measures and those with Special Needs, in a number of countries. We have worked with individual teachers, Head Teachers, middle management – all have said how much more in control they are, more confident and better able to deal with issues rather than respond to them. Our teachers are now teaching our stuff to their students to help them to cope with the pressure of growing up in today’s society – and of course to perform better in exams!

Based on the success of the programmes launched in schools we have been asked and have created a series of lessons based on our performance map to be taught to students entering their G.C.S.E studies years 10+11. We have recently won a contract to deliver this to 280 students in one school alone – this starts in November and will continue in their build up to sitting their G.C.S.E exams.

In the mean time, if you are interested in learning more, please contact Emma Trinder, Head of Education at Gazing either via The Gazing Office:- 020 8568 0298 or on her mobile: - 07799 038 572