Training Coaches

In this paper, we explore the role of an often overlooked challenge for teacher professional development: cognitive load.

Instructional coaching is one of the best ways for schools to improve teaching. We’ve pulled together this Beginner’s Guide to help share what we’ve learned about successful instructional coaching and how to make it work.

Josh and Kat delve into the structure of Josh's book and some common questions about implementing a coaching programme across a school or trust.

What is responsive coaching and why is it so important?

There are various conceptions of instructional coaching. The different terms used to describe instructional coaching models are often unhelpful, at times divisive, and can be a cause of confusion.

What does it take to build truly effective teacher professional development?

There are multiple ways to define expert teaching – the question is what to do with the analysis.

This is part 2 of a blog post series in which Elliot, a coaching lead at Manchester Communication Primary Academy, shares the five lessons he learnt when building a TA coaching programme, and the positive impact Instructional Coaching has had on TA practice.

Teaching Assistants (TAs) do not always have access to the same high quality professional development (PD) as teachers. TAs support learners with the most complex needs, and therefore ongoing training is key to their effectiveness.

If we want instructional coaching to make a real difference to teachers and pupils, we need to focus on getting the implementation right.

When I arrived in the summer of 2022, there was enthusiasm about the idea of coaching but a need to provide clarity around what makes great coaching, and drive the school’s instructional coaching programme to excellence.

For the last 7 years, over at Steplab we've been working on a project to codify effective teaching. This essay explores what we've done and what we've learned.

As a primary school head and a MAT leader, I believe it is an absolute entitlement for every teacher in our organisation to have meaningful, quality professional development.

Seeing is believing… and knowing what to do. That’s why sharing a model can make such a big difference to anyone who's learning a new skill.

At my previous school, I’d seen what a positive impact coaching has on both teacher practice and the teaching and learning culture in a school. When I started leading on Teaching and Learning in September 2021, I knew I wanted to start an instructional coaching programme.