Barriers and Bridges: Navigating Coaching Challenges

From Roles to Realities: Success and Struggle in Coaching

The Association for the Advancement of Instructional Coaching in International Schools’ (AAICIS) first landscape survey, published in 2025, illuminated both the promise and uncertainty of coaching in international schools. Many schools have embraced coaching as a vehicle for job-embedded professional growth; however, the majority of coaching roles and programs were in their infancy, inconsistently defined, and competing with other schoolwide priorities (Benedict et al., 2025). Gathering with focus groups of instructional coaches and administrators provided us with the opportunity to delve deeper into the daily realities of coaching: what enables coaches and coaching programs to thrive, and what obstacles stand in their way.

Part 1 of this series, Who Are Instructional Coaches? introduced the widely varying roles of instructional coaches across the world. Now, we analyze the results of two questions asked of our focus group participants: What helps instructional coaches be successful at your school? And what barriers, or challenges, do instructional coaches face at your school?

Bridges: What Helps Coaching Succeed

The first and most consistent bridge identified in our focus groups was relationships built on trust. Coaches described how credibility with teachers was “the cornerstone” of their work, and administrators echoed this, noting that success depended on the coach being seen as a safe, non-evaluative partner. Without that relational trust, even well-designed programs struggled to gain traction. As Kim Cofino defines (2024), instructional coaching is “non-evaluative and invitational in nature,” requiring trust as the foundation for risk-taking and growth.

A second bridge was leadership support paired with autonomy. One administrator in the study described coaches as “a core fundamental resource for understanding what’s needed in looking at our school goals and mission.” Coaches emphasized the importance of leaders who protect their time, engage in regular check-ins, and refrain from overloading them with non-coaching tasks. Killion and Harrison (2017) emphasize this dynamic in Taking the Lead, noting that successful coaching programs depend on Principals who act as champions – supporting the work, communicating its purpose, and ensuring conditions for success.

Finally, focus group participants highlighted the alignment with school-wide initiatives and the importance of investment in professional growth. Coaches were most effective when their work was integrated into larger strategic priorities rather than functioning as an add-on. One coach explained that ongoing collaboration created “opportunities… to support with goal setting” alongside teachers. At the same time, they stressed the importance of professional learning for coaches themselves. Coaching Matters (Killion et al., 2020) reminds schools that investing in the development of coaches, through training and coaching, ensures that programs are sustainable and aligned with broader school goals.

Barriers: What Gets in the Way

Even as participants highlighted the conditions that made coaching thrive, they were equally candid about the obstacles that hindered program growth. The most frequently cited barrier was lack of role clarity. Coaches described being asked to juggle too many tasks, from subbing classes to managing curriculum projects, which diluted their ability to focus on coaching. One coach explained, “I wear multiple hats, and sometimes the coaching piece is the one that slips.” The Landscape of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (Benedict et al. 2025) identified this same challenge, noting that the “most commonly reported challenge of instructional coaching programs was a lack of clarity”(p. 14) around purpose and responsibilities. Without a clear definition, coaching becomes vulnerable to being misunderstood or misused.

A second barrier was time and competing priorities. Both administrators and coaches acknowledged that coaching was often squeezed into crowded schedules. One administrator observed that while teachers valued coaching, “there is never enough time to do it as deeply as we’d like”. Killion and colleagues (2020) caution in Coaching Matters that without protected time, the most well-intentioned programs fail to reach their potential. Coaching is not an add-on to an already full workload; it requires deliberate structural support.

Finally, participants pointed to perceptions of coaching as a persistent challenge. Some teachers saw coaching as remedial, “only for those who need fixing,” rather than as an opportunity for professional growth. These misconceptions created resistance, particularly among more experienced teachers. As Killion and Harrison (2017) note in Taking the Lead, successful coaching cultures require careful communication so that coaching is viewed as a partnership, not an evaluation. Shifting perceptions is often slow, but without that cultural change, the impact of coaching remains limited.

Bridges and Barriers Together: Insights for Schools

Participants also pointed toward solutions. Several administrators spoke about deliberately scheduling coaching cycles, while one coach explained how their school created collaborative structures that “protected time and made the work visible.” By intentionally addressing barriers with the same tools that build bridges, schools can move beyond episodic success to more sustainable coaching cultures.

What emerged most clearly from our focus groups is that the very factors that enable coaching can also become barriers when absent. Trust builds a bridge, but without it, teachers resist. Leadership support empowers, but without structural follow-through, it slips into rhetoric. Alignment strengthens impact, but without clarity, coaching becomes scattered and unsustainable. As one coach summarized, “When there’s trust and time, coaching works. When those are missing, everything else feels uphill.”

References

Benedict, J., Moreland, K., Olson-Wyman, S., Cofino, K., & Killion, J. (2025). The landscape of instructional coaching in international schools. In M. Barker & L. Hammer (Eds.), Issues and Trends in International School Leadership (pp. 1-36). IGI Global Scientific Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-4342-5.ch001

Cofino, K. (2024). Fostering a culture of growth and belonging: The multi-faceted impact of instructional coaching in international schools. In M. Barker, R. Hansen, & L. Hammer (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Critical Issues and Global Trends in International Education (pp. 284-322). IGI Global Scientific Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-8795-2.ch012

Killion, J., & Harrison, C. (2017). Taking the lead: New roles for teachers and school-based coaches (2nd ed.). Learning Forward.

Killion, J., Bryan, C., & Clifton, H. (2020). Coaching matters (2nd ed.). Learning Forward.