By LeeAnne Lavender, PeerSphere storyteller

Challenges and innovations are constantly shaping and re-shaping the context and outcomes of international education and, as a result, professional learning needs to be flexible, adaptive and responsive. 

This year, in addition to growing its offerings of peer learning communities, PeerSphere has also introduced a new peer coaching program as a response to the rapidly-changing challenges and innovations of our time. 

Four educators who participated in PeerSphere’s coaching program gathered recently on Zoom to talk about their collaboration as mentors and mentees, roles that flexed in each session depending on what was being discussed. The idea with peer coaching is creating a dynamic peer-to-peer learning space where participants support each other, use a variety of tools, and share experiences. Below is a snapshot of each educator’s perspective along with take-aways gleaned from the Zoom discussion; these notes show the rich and meaningful experience that was created through PeerSphere coaching this year.

The four educators featured in this article were grouped together based on common goals and needs. They are: 

Catherina Fasanmi-Jones, Wellington College International Shanghai: EAL educator and Language Pathway Coordinator

Jesús García Jordà, International School of Beijing: middle school math

Ryan Walsh, Canadian International School Hefei: International Baccalaureate Diploma Program coordinator

Kristy Goodman, Changchun American International School: International Baccalaureate Diploma Program coordinator

Ryan’s Journey: Ryan’s path to the mentorship program started in the PeerSphere Professional Learning Community (PLC) for instructional coaches. As a seasoned DP Coordinator deeply involved in university guidance and the IB’s CAS (Creativity, Activity and Service) program, Ryan’s openness to both mentorship and being mentored fueled the group’s synergy. 

Catherina’s Narrative: Catherina is part of the PeerSphere Language Acquisition PLC. As the Head of English Language Learning at Wellington College in Shanghai, Catherina’s goals for coaching were similar to those of Jesús, and she has found the group sessions to be dynamic and productive.

Kristy’s Quest: For Kristy, a member of the PeerSphere Global Citizenship and Service Learning PLC, the coaching program has provided a lifeline to professional connections beyond her more geographically-isolated position in north-eastern China. Kristy describes her coaching group as a gathering of “kindred spirits”. 

Jesús‘s Reflections: As Jesús prepares to embrace a leadership role next year, the coaching program has been like a compass, guiding him through the complexities of his upcoming role. Jesús is a member of the PeerSphere “Planning and Evaluating Professional Development” PLC, and he is excited to step into the role of Department Head for science and math at ISB next year. 

These four educators attended a free session about coaching offered by Michael Iannini and Ewen Bailey, co-founders of PeerSphere. They all loved the vision of sharing expertise, ideas and wisdom in small group settings, and signed up right away. Based on their interests, backgrounds and goals for coaching, they were connected and began to meet via Zoom on a regular monthly basis. 

From the outset, Ryan, Catherina, Jesús and Kristy established essential agreements for their team. Their first meetings were guided by more formal agendas, and this practice gradually evolved into a more organic way of sharing needs and questions, and using discussion to ideate and reflect.  

As an example, during one Zoom meeting, Jesús presented a situation he’ll be facing in his leadership role in 2024/25.  

“I’ll be supporting the teachers I work with for professional development and I will also be supervising and evaluating them,” explains Jesús. “Those two elements could be contradictory and I wonder how members of my team can see me as supportive and also evaluative. I need to find a way to balance that, so I brought this up in a coaching session to gather ideas.” 

“After hearing Jesús present this situation, we all asked several clarifying questions,” adds Kristy. “For instance, I was curious about the type of evaluation process Jesús would use. After we asked a series of questions, we could then ideate with Jesús and share our experiences based on a variety of schools where we had all worked.” 

This conversation was extremely fruitful. Jesús says he came away with perspectives and ideas he hadn’t considered before and feels will help him create a framework for staff evaluation that will allow him to maintain integrity and trust as a supportive mentor and coach. 

Michael Iannini, PeerSphere co-founder and visionary behind the mentoring program, was excited when 63 people signed up for the pilot peer coaching program after he sent an ‘Expressions of Interest Form” to 8 of the 40 PeerSphere communities. Of the 63 people that submitted an expression of interest, he was able to successfully group 48, most of whom are still meeting and supporting each other regularly..

“The coaching program is meant to provide members with an opportunity to develop relationships across communities. In some cases there are very natural mentorship opportunities, such as people who share identical roles like deputy principals, principals, teaching assistants and classroom teachers,” says Michael. “In other cases, we have members looking for peer mentorships, largely because they feel isolated in their role or because they are looking to gain insight and experience into other roles or curricular practices.” 

In these targeted ways, coaching within PeerSphere extends beyond traditional PLCs to forge interdisciplinary collaborations and deepen professional insights. Michael himself attests to the transformative power of peer coaching, emphasizing its role in broadening perspectives and enriching critical discourse.

Reflecting on the stories shared by Ryan, Catherina, Kristy, and Jesús, it becomes evident that the PeerSphere peer coaching program is a testament to the transformative potential of collaborative learning and shared experiences. In an era where connectivity and support are essential, initiatives like the coaching program are exciting and point towards a brighter, more interconnected future for educators worldwide.