Newsletter February 2023: Ways in which professional coaching supports teaching

Introduction to SDU’s Lecturer Training Programme (LTP)

LTP provides a 10 ECTS introduction to teaching at SDU and SDU’s educational principles for active teaching and learning. LTP is primarily designed for Assistant Professors but if there are free places, it can also be accessed by others with teaching responsibilities at SDU (check the LTP link for information on eligibility). Each year, the SDU Centre for Teaching and Learning offers a winter and summer LTP programme, designed to last around 12 months. LTP is a popular professional development programme, which recruits around 40 teachers twice a year from SDU’s five faculties and teaching colleagues from other higher education institutions which do not offer their own LTP.

LTP includes five modules, with module 2 focusing on professional and peer coaching.

Through this coaching module participating teachers have access to an experienced high school/gymnasium' or higher education teacher and mentor for fellow teachers, who acts as their supervisor or coach. These supervisors bring a wealth of pedagogic and didactic knowledge, insights and understanding about teaching, activating learning, supervision, assessing learning and engaging students with learning.

Supervisors and their perspectives on university teaching

We invited LTP supervisors to share their perspectives on different aspects of learning, teaching and supervision.

• You can read Tony S. Andersen’s insights on group work. He shares some reflections on group work as an important democratic means of learning – also at university level. Though Danish students are used to working in groups through their educational programmes, the requirements of an academic setting may ask for making the expectations of students’ group work explicit.
• Tine Wirenfeldt Jensen on supervision. A considerable part of the LTP-participants' work is, apart from teaching, supervising their students and some participants have supervision as their primary or only student directed task. As a supervisor there are choices to be made on how to position yourself; are you an expert or a facilitator in cooperation with the student(s)? Like ordinary teaching, supervising is an area that may well be worked with and qualified to the benefit of both supervisor and students.
• You can read the transcript of the interview we held with LTP supervisor Anne Bang-Jensen about ‘the relational aspect’ and its importance for learning. Professional relationships between the teacher and students are sometimes regarded as a prerequisite for learning. Vincent Tinto (2017) describes how students’ sense of belonging - academically and socially - is vital for their wellbeing and completion of their studies. 

LTP supervision process and outcomes

During LTP, a supervisor observes each teacher in their group three times, followed by a post-teaching discussion. The teacher and supervisor schedule the observations and discussions, which can include online or face to face teaching. There is also scope for supervisors to observe supervision sessions and oral exams, with the students’ permission. In addition to the supervisor’s role, LTP participants also have a mentor from their subject area who observes and discusses one teaching session, and the participants engage in two peer observations and discussions. This supervision module is highly valued by LTP participants. 

LTP participants’ reflections on the supervision process

We wanted to find out more about what it is that makes the supervision process so important for the teachers and invited comments from LTP participants.

This teacher comments on the overall contribution of the supervision process with a particular focus on how these discussions prompted them to reflect on their own teaching and find their own way forward:

"Reflecting on my lecturer training program, I have learned much about different pedagogical methods and truly appreciated the several constructive conversations I have had with my supervisor. Undoubtedly, observations and dialogues with my LTP supervisor have significantly contributed to my development as a teacher. Especially the conversations with my supervisor after each class helped me to reflect on finding my own teaching approach and to become efficient in disseminating knowledge, adopting a transparent communication approach, and better structuring my lecture notes. In addition, I experienced that the dialogues were constructive, pleasant, and tailored to my needs."

Supporting self-reflection is a significant factor for this teacher too, as well as sharpening their pedagogic understanding and having open discussions about what did or did not work when they tried out different teaching approaches:

"The supervision gave me the opportunity to reflect in the community on my teaching and my role as a teacher. By having the supervisor's view on, for example, different teaching elements in practice, my awareness of my pedagogical and methodological considerations was sharpened. Furthermore, it was fruitful to be able to discuss why, for example, a teaching element worked or not."

Here the teacher reflects on the ‘constructive learning space’ they co-created with their supervisor and the opportunity for flexibility when choosing a focus:

"I have experienced supervision of my teaching practice as a great gift. In the supervision, a constructive learning space was created, where one could focus on the situations in the teaching which, for example, were experienced as particularly challenging. There was great flexibility in relation to what the focus of observation and feedback should be, and in this way the supervision could be organized with the greatest possible benefit for the own learning process."

And here, being introduced to new supervision techniques, added to the teacher’s toolkit:

"Supervision has given me an insight into some areas that I did not focus on myself. This has made me particularly aware of the influence of different supervision strategies, which I now use variedly and with particular focus on scaffolding the students' tasks."

In this example, the supervisor’s capacity to interpret students’ feedback for the teacher enabled them to better understand what the students found challenging and how they could change their teaching to better accommodate them:

"My LTP supervisor had a considerable role in my LTP experience. By setting some specific points of observations during classes (e.g., students´ ability to concentrate), my LTP supervisor helped me understand students´ feedback better (e.g., what students found challenging). She worked as a filter between students and teacher. She helped me seen my teaching practice from a broader perspective and experiment new teaching tools."

Even those with significant teaching experience, found it valuable to be ‘acknowledged’ and to receive reflective critique:

"Being a senior lecturer for more than 10 years in nursing and having been involved in qualifying an educational practice to be an academic practice, did to some extent make me ready for teaching and leading other teachers and education at SDU. Meanwhile one of the things I did enjoy the most in my LTP was the personal development and the possibility through personal supervision and mentoring from professionals and colleagues to get relevant feedback in my teaching at master level. It has been great to have the opportunity to be acknowledged and get reflective critique, and I will apply more of that to my future practice."

We give the last word to a teacher who appreciated how her supervisor gave her feed forward on her teaching, which helped her develop her confidence as a teacher:

"During my LTP, I had a wonderful and very experienced supervisor from a Danish high school. She contributed to my development as a university teacher in many different ways. Here, I want to highlight the way she prioritized giving feed forward on both didactical aspects of my teaching, and my teaching personality. I benefitted very much from both, and especially the latter has made me a more confident teacher."

If you would like to experience professional coaching, see if you are eligible to participate in LTP or other courses offered by the SDU Centre for Teaching and Learning. And you can always ask a consultant from the SDU CTL to observe your teaching and engage in a professional follow-up discussion.

At SDU Centre for Teaching and Learning we happily support your work on qualifying your teaching and supervision regarding relations, groupwork or other topics that will bring new perspectives.  We can arrange workshops for experienced staff, supervisions for groups of curious teachers, seminars for inexperienced international teaching staff – or a mix of formats and teaching groups. We welcome your ideas and do not hesitate to contact us.