ILM Level 5 Certificate in Effective Coaching & Mentoring

Context

The College of Policing (CoP) was established in 2012 to act as the professional body for standards within policing across England and Wales. They are responsible for setting standards in terms of professional practice, ethics and leadership, supporting the professional development of police staff and sharing best knowledge and practice across forces and constabularies. They currently employ ~600 staff who undertake hybrid working, with offices in both England and Wales.

Eliesha is a senior supplier supporting the UK public sector as a member of KPMG’s consortium of learning specialists. Under this contract, we have supported professional development throughout the Civil Service and Wider Public Sector by improving core skills, building knowledge and embedding professional behaviours. We provide design and delivery right across the comprehensive Government Skills Curriculum, including off-the-shelf workshops, accredited qualifications and bespoke learning projects.

Requirement

In early 2022, CoP identified a requirement for the ILM Level 5 Certificate in Effective Coaching and Mentoring – specifically a learning programme supporting 12 learners to achieve the qualification and develop the knowledge, skills, behaviours and confidence required to undertake coaching/mentoring within an organisational context.

Solution

Having been identified by KPMG as the preferred supplier with the relevant experience and expertise (and ILM Approved Centre status), Eliesha was contracted to support CoP with their training requirement. From the outset, Eliesha’s designated contract management team worked closely with CoP’s Learning and Talent Manager to define the programme timetable and a suitable tutor.

Programme start was adjusted to ensure that all 12 delegates were able to attend each session. A tutor was then proposed (and approved by CoP) and the full timetable was confirmed, with workshops running from May 2022 to September 2022. All the sessions for this programme were to be delivered in an engaging virtual learning environment, accommodating those who work in CoP’s various offices and their hybrid working patterns.

Our approach to delivering this qualification is then comprised of several elements:

• Learners complete an enrolment form to provide the information needed to enrol them with ILM.
• Learners complete a Knowledge & Skills questionnaire to assess their current level of understanding in the programme subject matter – this helps us determine whether they are suitable and will develop their expertise through this programme.
• We deliver an Induction session (which lasts 1.5 hours) that covers the programme and its structure for awareness and understanding.
• Following this, we deliver four, full-day, interactive workshops (7 hours in length) to take learners through the content of the qualification in full.
• We also deliver a Guided Learning Day (7 hours in length) which allows learners to ask any questions they may have, receive tutor support, work on assignments, etc.
• We use our Learning Management System (LMS), an e-learning platform, to provide necessary content for the programme plus additional learner resources, further reading, and our pearls of wisdom® microlearning content. The LMS is also used by the learners to complete feedback forms, submit assignments, etc.
• Learners are provided with tutor support throughout the programme. This includes facilitating coaching supervision and providing related feedback as part of their assignments.  
• Learners are then tasked with completing two assignments to cover the three necessary units needed to obtain the qualification. The first is a 4000-5000-word essay on their understanding of coaching and mentoring within an organisational context. The second is a coaching/mentoring portfolio they develop through coaching/mentoring practice.
• Upon submitting their assignments, learners are provided with feedback to either confirm that their assignments have passed or to provide referral actions for a resubmission to bring it up to a passing grade.
• Once both assignments have been passed, our Accredited Centre team undertake internal verification to confirm the tutor’s marking is compliant with ILM standards. External verification may also take place as required.
• Once verification processes have been completed, our Accredited Centre will claim the learner’s certification.

Throughout programme delivery, we have liaised with CoP’s Learning and Talent Manager to provide updates on the workshop delivery, attendance, assignment completion, and any other relevant aspect of our delivery. Our designated tutor adjusted their workshop delivery to provide relevance and contextualisation to those from a policing background. Our designated tutor also made considerations in their delivery to encompass those focusing on coaching, those focusing on mentoring, and those undertaking both.

Results

The programme was delivered in full by our designated tutor with an average attendance of 77%. The decision was made to record the workshops so that those who could not attend the workshops could catch up on the content that they missed. Those who were unable to attend certain sessions were also offered the opportunity to have a designated catch-up session with their tutor.

Feedback collected from the workshop delivery showed that:

• Across all the workshops, there was an overall satisfaction of 77%.
• Across all the workshops, there was an average tutor satisfaction score of 81%.
• There was an average increase of 35% in the learner’s knowledge and understanding of the subject matter through attending the workshops.

Of the 12 delegates who started the programme, 7 learners have now completed the qualification and 1 learner has withdrawn. The remaining 4 learners then each have individual deadlines set for their remaining assignments to ensure that they can complete within their ILM registration periods.

Outcomes

Throughout our delivery of this programme, we have received positive feedback from the learners and they have indicated the ease with which they have been able to apply their learning to their coaching/mentoring at work through completion of their portfolios. This positive impact for CoP has been felt across the organisation, as some senior staff members were enrolled onto this course along with managers and team leaders. CoP have been kept abreast of progress throughout and have been happy with that progress up until this point (June 2024).

Continuing Work

Following on from the first cohort of learners, we were asked to support subsequent cohort made up of 11 learners. The workshops for this programme ran from May 2023 to August 2023 and were delivered by the same designated tutor. When this tutor became unavailable for personal reasons, we quickly sourced an alternative tutor to finalise the assessment and supervision work for this programme, providing and uninterrupted service which CoP responded positively to.

From this second cohort, we had an average of 78% attendance across all the events. We received an average tutor satisfaction score of 92% and an overall satisfaction score of 84%. Of those 11 learners, 7 have since completed and obtained their certificates, 1 has withdrew, and the remaining 3 have individual deadlines set to complete in the near future.

Since running the first cohort of this programme, we have also had a learner enrol onto our distance learning offering for the ILM Level 7 Certificate for Executive and Senior Level Coaches and Mentors. This learner since completed their qualification in May 2024.

Comments/Quotes

“The materials are very good; they are very comprehensive and I like the pearls of wisdom®.”

“Really enjoyed this workshop (Workshop 4), (designated tutor) as always was excellent.”

“All of this workshop (Workshop 2) was beneficial and useful!”

“There wasn’t any of it (Workshop 3) that I didn’t enjoy. The group work and discussions were good.”