Essential Coaching Skills for Affective Development

The goal of coaching for school improvement generally focuses on academic achievement. Coaching is often centered on raising test scores and ensuring that all students achieve academic standards. The effectiveness of coaching can also be found in its usefulness for developing affective skills in both teachers as well as students. Essential coaching skills of listening, paraphrasing, presuming positive intent, asking powerful questions, and providing reflective feedback can be paired with a focus on relationships and relatedness between coach and teacher, teacher candidate or student to positively impact the climate and culture of a classroom. With that in mind, coaching for affective development addresses the development of rapport, respect, and responsiveness to student needs. Utilizing coaching skills to develop students in both affective and academic domains strengthens the power of the coaching relationship.