Introducing Our New Podcast; School Solutions Talk

Tara Gretton and Vicky Essebag, solution focused practitioners, coaches and leaders, welcome you to their first episode of the School Solutions Talk Podcast, dedicated to the power of solution focused practice in education. They share their thoughts, ideas and hopes for the podcast. They inspire listeners with some insights on shifting and building communication in schools to inspire self-awareness and agency, while fostering positive relationships with and among students, staff, and families. They speak to how the podcast will unfold as they will be interviewing special guests, from students and classroom educators to administrators and solution focused leaders, who share their experience and expertise in school settings, as well as their best hopes in reshaping school culture and the meaning of success. Enjoy!

Tara and Vicky work together to provide solution focused training for your schools and school systems, both in person and online. For a  free consultation, contact them at schoolsolutionstalk@gmail.com. 

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS (highlighted in each episode):

Work Collaborative

The Work Collaborative, a not-for-profit movement restoring confidence in schools worldwide. Based on the best-selling book Change Starts Here by Shane Leaning and Efraim Lerner, Work Collaborative helps schools lead change from within instead of relying on external solutions. The collaborative’s approach trusts that teachers, leaders, parents and students have the capability to solve their own challenges when given the right support. If you're interested in solution-focused approaches that build internal capacity rather than dependency, join this global movement of educators at workcollaborative.com.

Instructional Coaching Group

The Instructional Coaching Group is the global destination for coaching in education, including instructional coaching and leadership coaching. Led by Dr. Jim Knight, ICG’s work is grounded in more than 25 years of research focused on improving teaching and strengthening leadership, with the ultimate goal of increasing student success. Through research-based professional learning and consulting, the Instructional Coaching Group partners with schools and systems worldwide to build sustainable coaching practices and programs that support educators and improve outcomes for students. www.instructionalcoaching.com 

The Canadian Centre for Brief Coaching

The Canadian Centre for Brief Coaching (CCBC) founded by Dr. Haesun Moon, is a company based in Toronto, Ontario, that provides competency-based workplace training programs as well as coaching and consulting services to organizations across sectors and disciplines, both in Canada and around the globe. Since its inception as an organizational research body and think tank comprising graduate students, usbject-matter experts, and community partners, CCBC evolved with programs and services designed with Solution Focused Coaching as the fundamental educational framework and instructional method. Go to www.pracademia.com 

 Family Based Solutions 

Family Based Solutions is a charitable organization based in the UK and founded by Ayse Adil and Joe Lettieri. They offer counselling services, support groups, solution focused training, online support and global leadership. They work collaboratively to end the cycle of abuse in families and to repair relationships.  Using Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), FBS gives families full control of their healing as each family member plays a leading role in what they want and need, as well as outcomes for each session. Go to  https://familybasedsolutions.org.uk/.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:23

Thanks to our sponsor, Work Collaborative, a not-for-profit movement that helps schools lead change from within. They trust that teachers, leaders, parents, and students have the capability to solve their own challenges when given the right support. Join this global movement of educators at WorkCollaborative.com.

SPEAKER_03: 0:44

Hi, everyone. We welcome our listeners here today. Hi, Tara. Hi, Vicki. Great to see you. Great to see you too. And you know what? We are just so excited and inspired to be starting this new podcast for you. This podcast is called School Solutions Talk. And, you know, it really was the idea of the podcast was born out of many of the sessions that we had in our other podcast, you know, A Call Across the Pond. For any of you that have listened to it, we also have a podcast called A Call Across the Pond, Transforming Relationships at School at Home and Beyond. And many of those episodes were centered on schools because Tara and I do a lot of solution-focused work in schools. And so upon reflection, we had the conversation where we said, you know what, this is a great opportunity to reflect on our experience and our expertise in schools and to bring that to the forefront. And so that's effectively what we're doing in this podcast. And so we're really, really happy to have you here. Tara?

SPEAKER_01: 2:05

Yeah, absolutely. It is it's so exciting. And yeah, I think in our uh not that we were trying not to talk about schools, but it was very hard not to talk about schools.

SPEAKER_02: 2:18

Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_01: 2:21

Uh and yeah, as so much of our, as you said, our work and our passion and you know, and so much starts at school.

SPEAKER_03: 2:31

You know? Absolutely. Absolutely. And you know, I think that our our experience is that um we we want to talk about what's going on in schools, and we also want to talk about what will really work in schools when things are done a little bit differently in terms of the way that people relate with each other, the way in which people support each other, uh, the way in which people carry out their day-to-day business, that uh we really believe that solution focus just sheds an entirely new light on that. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01: 3:10

Yeah, and uh we've we've kind of thought about a couple of questions today to sort of pose to each other and um to think about, you know, initially what we're hoping, and we've touched on it already, but what we're kind of hoping for and and from you know the opportunity to to share this podcast. And you know, just I think what's it really exciting is with some of the ideas that we're sort of generating already and thinking about who we would like to be able to have conversations with. Um and you know, I and you know, but both of us have we're kind of thinking about whole school communities, and that this podcast is a place for everybody's voice to be heard, yes, um, and that that is is really important to us, not only those voices of people that are using solution focused in the school context already, but actually to hear from people within the school communities, people that might be more curious about uh who are curious about how solution focused uh might be applied, who might want to kind of put us to the test and ask us some really kind of important questions in relation to some of the challenges that they might be experiencing in schools. How might solution focus might, you know, how might it be utilized in order to support particular issues in school? And also space for the voices of you know every aspect of schools, whole staff communities, you know, whether it's the student who hopefully there'll be a willing student out there who might want to come and ask us some questions, who might want to share their experience of solution focused. Um we'd love to hear from parents, from carers, um, from yeah, from everybody. And so I am, well we are just so excited to be able to open up those possibilities of having those conversations with people.

SPEAKER_03: 5:15

Absolutely. And you know, we have um heard from a lot of teachers and administrators who are already incorporating solution focus in schools, and we would love to be interviewing them to learn about what it is that they're doing and what they're interested in and what's been working for them within their schools. Um, and we also want to interview solution focused leaders, um leaders who have experience or expertise in schools, who have um who have seen the difference that solution focus can make in schools. So we want to hear your stories. We want to hear what has worked and what your thoughts are about it and how you continue to move forward using solution focus in schools. And for some people and for some solution focused leaders, that's about the one-on-one conversations that they're having with students and families in a counseling capacity or a social work or therapeutic capacity. Um, for other solution focused leaders, it's how they're um aligning um solution-focused brief therapy with communication and how they're actually uh, you know, encouraging people to use it in the classroom, in the school, at meetings, uh, things like that. So we want to hear from everybody. We want to hear everything that's going on because one thing that Tara and I know for sure is that this works and it really works in school communities. So we're very excited about that.

SPEAKER_01: 6:45

Yes, yeah, absolutely. And yeah, I think building on the things that you've shared, I think, you know, that we have such a mutual passion for sort of almost bringing solution focused out of that therapy room or out of that counselling room. You know, obviously what happens there is is really important and um and useful as well. But yeah, bringing it out into the community and as you described, into the classroom, into meetings, and into the very fabric of schools from experience, the difference that that makes, you know, and that it can be in the hallways, in the corridors, and that when we're so when we're intentional of you know, it in and how we use solution-focused, how we're kind of really got the assumptions, what underpins it, what we believe in as solution-focused practitioners, so you know, soaring through our veins, the difference that that makes to how we interact with people, even in a micro moment, even in a fleeting moment. And I think what we're seeing, we're seeing the impact of that, we're hearing the impact of that from students, from school staff, from parents, and that is what I think you know, we're so excited to to share. And as our our sort of understanding and our training and all of those aspects of um are how we're using and utilizing solution focused is telling us, you know, this makes a difference, it works, it really works. Um, and so yeah, I'm really excited to be in this space with you, as always, Vicky, but to be able to share more of that. But as you say, to hear from others how their experience in their unique kind of setting, in their unique experience, removing it. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03: 8:50

Well, I'm I'm also uh really inspired to be in this with you, Tara, and to continue to have our wonderful conversations. And you know, one of the things about solution focus that I find so meaningful is really how we change our mindsets to prepare ourselves for how we communicate with other people. And uh so much of it, you know, solution-focused practitioners talk about how that so much about communicating in a solution-focused manner is how we prepare ourselves for that communication. You know, as a practitioner in a therapeutic environment, we prepare the space. We prepare the space, we want it to be inviting, we want it to be very centered on the client, and we want to come in really um separating ourselves from the the client's experience to allow the client to essentially lead the way, to lead the way. And in a in a classroom setting, for example, it's not all that dissimilar, right? So in a with a solution-focused mindset, we want practitioners in the classroom, teachers, educators, educational assistants, to walk in as well into the classroom and to reframe their mindset so that if there is, let's imagine, a student who is unhappy with the class that day or unhappy with the lesson and they're complaining and they're acting out and all of this, to not to look at that as a problem, but to see it as an opportunity. An opportunity as to how are we going to engage that student? And maybe it's a great opportunity to say, hey, you know what? Thank you so much for sharing that. Because what that's telling me as your teacher is that maybe I need to be rethinking about how we're carrying out this lesson. And maybe we all need to be thinking about it. And you know what? Let's brainstorm some ideas. What is it that we really want to see happening in this lesson? What is it that we really want to see happening in this classroom? And let's write those things down. And, you know, the whole idea of also helping the teacher to do that for themselves. Maybe the teacher can say, hey, let me sit down with myself and ask myself what I want to see happen differently in these lessons. And then maybe to take those two lists and to bring them to class and to show the students and to look at the similarities in what the teacher wants and what the student wants. And then where do we go from here? Or what is happening already that we see in these lists, even if in just a such a small way. So that would be an example of how if if we can shift our mindset to look at problems as opportunities, we can make great, great leaps of change in classrooms.

SPEAKER_01: 11:50

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I love everything that you said. And I I think as well, and I think we've both kind of experienced this in how um we've evolved, how we share solution focused with school communities, is that you know, it when you learn something, it can be like, where do I start with this? How do I how do I do this? I don't have time. You know, it can feel too much. And I think having you know worked within education and worked alongside um school communities, it's like, how can we, or you know, hearing from them um what's going to make this most accessible for them? And I think what's really wonderful is that you can take like the smallest thing from solution-focused, you know, it can be just really having those clear solution-focused assumptions, those beliefs at the forefront of your mind, and that that makes a difference to how you interact, you know, that you can be really intentional with those. Um, and if you're really thinking about right, this is all this is about what's wanted and what's working, you know, that can be enough to you know have an impact on how you intentionally turn up into an interaction with somebody, that sort of noticing, noticing what's working, um being curious about what's wanted, and that you know, as you described, that we can work with alongside students, that we can co-create together. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03: 13:28

Yes, and that we can change the narrative.

SPEAKER_01: 13:31

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03: 13:32

That we have these narratives that that you know uh make us see particular situations in a certain light, or that make us reflect on certain students or certain programs or whatever in schools in a certain light, but that we can actually change those narratives uh to create new stories that provide new opportunity. Yeah. So uh yes.

SPEAKER_01: 13:57

Yeah, yeah. And uh I was um delivering training today with a a residential um school um that's in in Scotland, and they um, you know, a lot of the students there have experienced trauma, quite significant trauma, and it's quite remarkable um provision, and because it's that mix of education and residential as well, and so there's a cross-section of their staff um on the training. Um, but we were they were talking about sort of how they might um you know make use of solution focused in things like handovers, you know, as new staff comes in, what is it, what's being shared, you know, they're obviously needing to share any concerns or any that in terms of um safeguarding, but also that in those handovers that they're sharing what's what's gone well. Yes, what's what are those sort of even those they were talking about, even those tiny sort of sparkling moments, and that so even you know, in those handovers, in the very fabric of the running of a of a school, that's that the solution-focused language can be utilized. And actually what they were talking about by being in in those um in the fabric of things and what they do in terms of procedures, that then the the language just becomes more and more and more and more familiar, and that it's contagious, and then people just sort of start mirroring and start doing more of it, start doing more of what works, and and that's what people have told us, isn't it? You know, that's what we've experienced. Um, that that people they want more of it because it works and it makes a difference.

SPEAKER_03: 15:43

And they feel better, they feel better. Their sense of well-being, to to want to be there, to really want to celebrate themselves, their students, their school communities. Um, that that just immediately shifts. It's almost like developing new neuropathways, isn't it? That, you know, these are new ways of thinking, and we can become used to these ways of thinking, especially when they bring us joy. And and we we realize very quickly that we become inspired because we realize that we have a lot that we bring to the educational experience, and so does everybody else, and that we all come together and contribute to this learning environment in our own way.

SPEAKER_00: 16:32

Thanks to Family Based Solutions, a charitable organization that aims to end the cycle of abuse in families and to repair relationships using the solution-focused brief therapy method. They offer counseling services, support groups, solution-focused training, online support, and global leadership to those who need it most. Learn more at FamilyBasedSolutions.org. The CCBC provides workplace training programs, coaching, and consulting to organizations across various sectors worldwide, all with solution-focused coaching as the fundamental educational framework. For more, visit prakademia.com. That's PRacademia.com.

SPEAKER_01: 17:31

And I kind of think if you think about, you know, the language that we use constructs meaning. You know.

SPEAKER_03: 17:38

Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_01: 17:40

And that and I think that kind of really simplifies in my mind what solution focused is. You know, if we're focusing on the language that we're using is is predominantly problem-focused, and we imagine that, you know, kind of being the constant or what's you know, across whole school communities, then the impact of that is it's going to be pretty negative. Yes. Yes. And it's not to say that there isn't space to talk about problems within solution focus, there most definitely is, but it's kind of where you move on from that, you know, okay, so we we know what the issues are, there's space, you know, people have had those issues validated, and then we're like, so what do we want instead?

SPEAKER_03: 18:24

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01: 18:24

And we're talking about, you know, when we're using language to talk about what's wanted, and we're getting a description of that, you know, then already that's going to make a difference. There's hope, there's possibility. Exactly. Shared vision. And actually, what schools have sort of told us and what we've experienced is that it actually makes some difficult conversations easier to have. You know, you're thinking about work with having um conversations with parents, and they might have some questions, some difficulties that they need to be addressed. And you know, you're starting a meeting by asking a parent, you know, what are you hoping for from this meeting? If this things were to change, what would be better? And school staff, you know, they say, Oh, you know, parents like, wow, you want to know what I want. And we experience that with students as well. And then so you've got that, and then you've got, okay, how are we managing, or or you know, how how have how have, even though things have been so difficult, what have we done that's got us through? So how are they, what are the times, when are the times, or what's happening when things are maybe just a tiny, tiny, tiny bit better. You know, so that difference when we're using that language of what's wanted, what's working, and that's spread across the school community, the difference that's going to make to people's experience of of that environment is gonna be significantly better.

SPEAKER_03: 19:55

Well, it's it's like what you were saying, it's very hopeful. It's a hopeful way of thinking. And as soon as we start thinking and talking in those hopeful ways and using that hopeful type of language, uh, it immediately shifts the way we respond to our immediate environment, doesn't it? Immediately. And that's why people are so different when they come out of a solution-focused conversation rather than from a problem-focused conversation. When they come out of a problem-focused conversation, they're exhausted, they're troubled, right? The the intensity of that conversation is just overwhelming. And we see that a lot in, for example, meetings with parents and their children. We see that. We see that in in meetings and conversations with staff who are really struggling. You know, they just come out of those conversations exhausted. And it only further exacerbates the problem. But in a conversation where we can speak in a hopeful way and just use very simple language like, what would you like to be better? Yeah, you know, or to use, you know, a miracle type of question, you know, if things were better. Suppose things were to entirely change tomorrow for the better, what might that look like for you? It inspires a completely different type of conversation, but it also inspires a different way of thinking and feeling. And and people usually walk away from those conversations actually making immediate change without even realizing what they're doing. Just because they're in a different mind frame now that is giving them the fuel, the energy to make productive change.

SPEAKER_01: 21:48

Yeah, absolutely. And it kind of makes me think about, you know, if that's not only in those kind of settings, but it's it's also being it's also happening in the everyday interactions, then, or you know, or a student that's kind of just met with um a teacher or a head of year or whatever because something needed to be addressed, but it was done in a solution focused way, then that young person goes back, you know, to the classroom and you just thinking about how that child or young person then arrives into the classroom. you know from the break time that transition from one classroom to the other um if people are talking about oh I mean you know I'm always banging on about this Siki but you know noticing them and connecting with them and before they correct them it's like oh it's great to see you and you know now t-shirt in and have a great day then that that student's going to turn up into the classroom with that teacher and with that class of students hopefully in a much better place so that's gonna make for a better outcome in in the classroom so the impact on everything you know is is it it really is what what we call in Canada a snowball effect. Yeah especially now as we're seeing all the snow yeah yeah but it really is a snowball effect and it really builds on itself it is yeah totally and I was also thinking about in um um with teachers when they're kind of having their departments um you know kind of I think they call it a deep dive you know maybe there's a better term for that as well but if if they've got a senior leader coming in to observe their classroom or they're looking at all of their kind of uh materials and and looking at their kind of you know mark schemes and all of that that if they're if whoever's doing that in that senior leader that administrator position is going in with a very solution focused mindset rather than which often you know teachers experience where it's actually let's look for the issues because we'll let we'll just focus on them and then we'll kind of do because we kind of know what you do well because I have heard a teacher say that that they didn't get the positives or what was working because um the senior leader just assumed that they knew that.

SPEAKER_03: 24:22

But actually if you want staff morale you know thinking about building up and building your your your staff's sense of self-belief going into those um deep dives with a with a with a solution focused approach is going to make such a difference to that that staff absolutely absolutely I think that it's a it's almost like um an intention to an overall sense of well-being in schools and definitely uh it comes from uh you know it it has to start from that administrative place where the administration says you know this is our intention we really want to bring well-being to our school or our our school community and we're going to prioritize that and so that is prioritized in everything that goes on in the school in the way that you know they they model well-being in the way that they run their meetings in the way that they encourage their teachers to think and communicate and so this whole idea of solution focus as a practice uh as a therapeutic practice or a counseling practice on the one hand but also as a communicative practice right that that administrators for example at meetings are saying we are not going to minimize the importance of prioritizing communication and well-being and the building of relationships and well-being we're not going to minimize that we're gonna make it an important part of our agenda we're going to put it front and center in everything we do and of course uh tara you and I are going to talk about how to do that yeah so that that is uh really something that I'm I'm looking so forward to in these episodes and um and so I think that uh we're off to a good start tara what do you think yes absolutely we most definitely are and it's I think I love what you said about that emphasis on well-being yeah this is about well-being for everybody this is about everybody's well-being and this is yes it's not to say it's not to say that we don't want to focus on academic no um you know academic issues in schools and the importance of prioritizing the academics of course we want to do that but academics and well-being have to go hand in hand it can't be that we're just throwing in well-being as the you know the special well-being day or you know that special well-being activity that we're doing for our school community academics and well-being need to go hand in hand in everything that we do because that is how we truly see success in schools that is how we see success in our students that's how we see success in our staff and so and in our families so um and we know that when you use solution focused and when you work with people in a solution focused way then generally it has a a a really positive impact on outcomes.

SPEAKER_00: 27:36

Absolutely so yes it's yeah so all right well Tara thank you for conversations and looking forward to um yeah having the opportunity again to meet some wonderful well many wonderful people along this journey with you Vicky so well and you know what honestly if if you're listening to this podcast today and you think you'd like to come onto the podcast to talk with Tara and I about your experience or about any questions that you might have we'd love to have you so please reach out to us uh you've got our information um in the in the bio of this podcast and so you can reach out to us and uh we'll be happy to have a conversation with you um and we look forward to uh seeing you next time or uh speaking to you next time okay yeah brilliant thanks everybody our sponsor the instructional coaching group is the global destination for coaching and education grounded in more than 25 years of research focused on improving teaching strengthening leadership and increasing student success the instructional coaching group partners with schools and systems worldwide to build sustainable coaching practices that support educators and improve outcomes for students learn more at instructionalcoaching.com