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Certification Procedures
THE CONSULTATION PROCESS WITH TRIPLET MEMBERS
The certification process allows participants the benefit of a peer coaching
system as the route through which conscious and deliberate reflections about
professional work can occur. The process of visiting a colleague for the
purposes of assisting her in this reflection, and having her visit you,
enables you to think through what you are doing. Comparing this with a specific
criteria permits you to choose the arenas where you wish to attempt change
and to receive support in implementing and evaluating these changes.
Without exploration and change over time, there is no process; and candidates
must be aware that this process of coaching and being coached by another is
a growing process, at first a tentative sort of thing which gradually
gathers focus and purpose and becomes a source of change in professional
development and a source of strength. It requires a certain patience with
the process, an acknowledgement that some things will be difficult but that
is just fine; they can be accepted and become challenges to problem solve. It
is a generative process which when done to its fullest can be richly rewarding.
THE ROLE OF THE CONSULTANT
The consultant or coach is the person who visits a colleague in action. There
is a particular stance towards these visits which we have found to be
helpful in these peer coaching sessions. The following describes the key
aspects of this role.
- LISTENING:
The coach withholds her own agenda and is
receptive to what the participant tells her. She permits a "debriefing" after
observing so that the participant can describe what she is trying to do and
what concerns her. The coach supports her in this, rather than trying to give expert
advice or tell her what to do.
- CONSTRUCTING A SHARED AGENDA:
The coach works to construct a
shared vocabulary, a common understanding between them; for example, by
active listening and debriefing, by probing and clarifying what the participant
means. Together, then, they develop an understanding of what the participant
is trying to do. As well, they have the criteria for Certification before
them, an explicit external criteria, and part of this shared understanding is
communicating about the criteria, its meaning to them, and how they are using
it in the setting. The participant takes the lead in selecting criteria
upon which to focus and the coach supports her in this.
- SUPPORTING PROBLEM-SOLVING:
The coach supports a problem-solving
approach by asking questions (What could we do about that? How could we get
that working better for you?) and works to elicit solutions and consequences of
these from the participant. Since the participant is the one with the most
information about the problem, the solutions she generates are both the most
likely to work and the ones to which she will make a commitment. It gives
her competence, a disposition to cope. This can be done by role play for
instance, or discussion.
- FOCUS ON A SPECIFIC PROBLEM:
The coach keeps the session
focused on a specific problem or issue. Focusing on the children and the
program and what one wants to see happening there avoids digressions into
personality or teaching style, differences which can be threatening to participants
and put them on the defensive.
- COACH AS SCRIBE:
Sometimes the coach can keep a running record of the thinking
process the participant goes through on the way to solutions or new ideas, and
this documentation of process and ideas can be very helpful. It leaves the
participant free to think, knowing she does not have to worry about
remembering everything.
- INTEGRITY:
Both coach and participant maintain their own
integrity, that is, their autonomy. If the coach disagrees, there is no
advantage to false sympathy, but an important gain to be had from a
different idea put forth. The key is for the coach to "own" the idea and
to present it not as something the participant should do, but simply as
different information.
It is often difficult for women to disagree because women value connection
to others so very much, and disagreement is often accompanied by a feeling
of emotional discord. It is a mark of maturity for two adults to disagree
and still retain respect and emotional equilibrium for each other.
This excerpt is from Certification Procedures, published by the Certification
Council of Early Childhood Educators of Nova Scotia.
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Posted by the
Certification Council of Early Childhood Educators of Nova Scotia, July 1997.
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