Coaching Conversations for Mentors – Professional Growth Cycle

Support mentors to have meaningful, reflective coaching conversations with kaiako throughout the Professional Growth Cycle (PGC).

This practical ECE mentor guide uses the GROW coaching model – Goal, Reality, Options and Way Forward to provide a simple structure for conversations that encourage reflection, professional learning and changes to teaching practice.

Designed specifically for the ECE Professional Growth Cycle, the resource helps mentors support kaiako to connect their individual inquiry with the service’s internal evaluation and improvement focus, while keeping the conversation centred on their own practice and the children they teach.

The guide supports mentors to:

• help kaiako refine a meaningful and manageable PGC inquiry goal
• explore what is currently happening in practice and consider the evidence
• encourage deeper reflection through purposeful coaching questions
• connect research and professional learning with changes to teaching practice
• explore possible strategies, changes and refinements
• consider the likely impact of changes on children/ākonga
• agree on clear, practical next steps
• identify evidence that can be used to evaluate impact on learners

Practical questions for every stage of the GROW model

The guide includes ready-to-use coaching questions for:

G – Goal: What are you trying to achieve?
R – Reality: What is happening in your practice now?
O – Options: What could you do differently?
W – Way Forward: What will you do next?

The questions can be used flexibly across multiple mentor conversations throughout the year – they do not need to be worked through in a single meeting or followed in a strict order.

A practical resource to help mentors move beyond simply checking PGC requirements and instead facilitate professional conversations that support reflection, learning and meaningful improvement in teaching practice.

Specifically developed for mentors supporting ECE Professional Growth Cycles in Aotearoa New Zealand.