Depending on the school, coaching can mean very different things. One day it involves classroom observations and reflective conversations. The next it might involve analyzing assessment data, supporting curriculum development, facilitating professional learning, or mentoring new teachers. Sometimes coaching is viewed as a partnership for growth. Sometimes it is mistaken for evaluation or supervision.
The more I have worked in coaching, the more I have realized that many educators are asking the same question. What is instructional coaching, and what is it actually supposed to do? It’s time to answer that question. Drawing on research and my experience as a pedagogical coordinator and instructional coach in international schools, let’s explore instructional coaching through six simple questions.
What Is Instructional Coaching?
Instructional coaching is often described differently depending on the school context. In many schools, coaching includes activities such as analyzing assessment data, planning curriculum, modelling lessons, organizing professional development, or supporting new teachers. Joellen Killion’s framework describes ten roles coaches may play, including resource provider, mentor, curriculum specialist, classroom supporter, and learning facilitator (Killion, 2008). All of these roles can be valuable.
The difficulty is that coaching can easily become too many things at once. At its core, instructional coaching is a professional partnership focused on improving teaching and learning through reflection, inquiry, and evidence. Jim Knight has been one of the most influential voices in this field. His work emphasizes partnership principles such as equality, dialogue, reflection, choice, and reciprocity. Coaching is not something done to teachers but something done with them (Knight, 2018, 2021).
In practice, this often begins with simple conversations about real classroom questions. A history teacher I worked with recently was concerned that students were not engaging deeply with source analysis. Rather than immediately suggesting strategies, we spent time unpacking what “engagement” actually looked like in the lesson. That conversation led to a small change in how the teacher structured the activity. The improvement in student thinking was noticeable, but the real value was the reflective process that led to the change.
What Instructional Coaching Is Not
Coaching is often confused with several related forms of professional support.
In reality, these roles sometimes overlap in schools. The important distinction is that instructional coaching remains focused on teacher learning and student outcomes through partnership, inquiry, and evidence.
Why Instructional Coaching?
Schools invest enormous time and resources in professional development, yet many teachers would admit that much of it has limited long-term impact. Traditional professional development often struggles for three reasons:
Instructional coaching addresses these challenges because it is embedded in the daily work of teaching. Research supports this. A meta-analysis by Kraft, Blazar, and Hogan found that sustained instructional coaching leads to measurable improvements in instructional practice and student achievement (Kraft, Blazar, & Hogan, 2018).
Another influential body of research comes from Hattie’s Visible Learning. Hattie’s synthesis of thousands of studies suggests that the average educational intervention produces an effect size of 0.40, often described as the “hinge point” representing roughly one year’s learning growth (Hattie, 2009; Hattie, 2012). Many practices commonly supported through instructional coaching exceed this level, including formative evaluation (≈0.90), micro-teaching (≈0.88), teacher clarity (≈0.75), and feedback (≈0.70).
These strategies are not unique to coaching. Teachers may encounter them through workshops, courses, books, or professional reading. The challenge is translating ideas into consistent classroom practice. This is where coaching becomes particularly valuable. By working alongside teachers in real classrooms, coaches can help break strategies down, test them in lessons, and reflect on their impact on student learning.
But the deeper reason coaching matters is cultural. Coaching helps create schools where teachers feel safe to ask questions, share challenges, and test new ideas. Strong coaching cultures rely heavily on trust and relationships between teachers, coaches, and school leaders (Aguilar, 2013; Knight, 2021).
I remember facilitating a planning team meeting where a teacher openly shared that a lesson she had tried was a “complete disaster.” Instead of embarrassment, the conversation quickly turned into curiosity. Colleagues began asking questions, exploring possible causes, and offering ideas. That moment of professional honesty was possible because trust had been built over time. Coaching played an important role in creating the conditions for that conversation.
Who Is Coaching For?
In some schools, coaching is directed mainly at new teachers or teachers who are struggling. When that happens, coaching becomes associated with remediation. This is unfortunate because some of the most valuable coaching conversations happen with experienced teachers.
Good coaching recognizes that every teacher is still learning. Beginning teachers may need structured support around planning, routines, or classroom management. Experienced teachers often seek professional dialogue around deeper questions such as student thinking, assessment design, inquiry, disciplinary literacy, or student agency. Elena Aguilar argues that coaching is not only about improving techniques but also about examining beliefs, identity, and professional purpose (Aguilar, 2013).
The most effective coaching cultures treat coaching as normal professional learning rather than an intervention. Just as we hope students remain lifelong learners, coaching assumes the same is true for teachers.
Where Does Coaching Happen?
One of the biggest mistakes schools make is separating professional learning from the classroom. Professional conversations sometimes happen in offices or meeting rooms far removed from the daily realities of teaching. These discussions can be interesting and worthwhile, but they often remain abstract.
The most powerful coaching happens close to the classroom. That might include:
Some of the most productive coaching conversations I have had began with a quick classroom visit followed by a short discussion in the corridor or staff room. Because the conversation is anchored in real practice, it feels immediate, relevant, and actionable.
When Should Coaching Happen?
Another challenge in schools is time. Coaching sometimes appears as a short series of meetings linked to evaluation cycles, accreditation visits, or professional development initiatives. While these efforts can be valuable, they can also make coaching feel episodic. Effective coaching is usually ongoing.
It happens through cycles of inquiry, action, and reflection. A typical coaching cycle might include:
Knight describes this process through the Impact Cycle, which emphasizes identifying goals, learning strategies, and improving through practice (Knight, 2018).
From my experience, regular coaching conversations matter. Weekly meetings are often ideal. Once conversations become less frequent, it becomes much easier for momentum to fade and priorities to shift. Like learning itself, professional growth benefits from continuity.
How Does Instructional Coaching Work?
The mechanics of coaching are often simpler than people expect. Good coaching tends to involve three key elements:
Relationships: Trust is essential. Teachers need to know that coaching is supportive rather than evaluative.
Inquiry: Coaches ask questions that help teachers reflect on their decisions, assumptions, and observations about student learning. Effective coaches also resist the urge to jump straight to feedback or solutions. Instead, they spend time learning about the teacher’s context, students, and goals before making assumptions about what might help.
Evidence: Conversations are grounded in classroom practice, including observation notes, student work, assessment data, or student voice.
Instructional coaches also help strengthen collaboration across a school by supporting professional learning communities, peer observation, teacher inquiry, and shared reflection.
Researchers such as Fullan and Hargreaves argue that sustainable school improvement depends on building professional capital and collective capacity (Fullan & Hargreaves, 2012). Coaching helps create the conditions where teachers learn from one another rather than working in isolation.
A Final Reflection
Four years into my coaching journey, I am still learning what instructional coaching is and what it can become. Perhaps that is the point. Coaching is not a fixed set of strategies or responsibilities. It is an ongoing commitment to inquiry, reflection, and growth. In some schools, coaching becomes another initiative that fades over time. In others, it becomes entangled with evaluation and compliance. But when coaching is built on trust, inquiry, evidence, and real classroom practice, it can transform professional learning.
The goal is not simply better teaching techniques. The goal is schools where teachers continuously examine their own practice, learn from one another, and refine their craft.
In other words, schools where adults model the same curiosity, reflection, and commitment to growth that we hope to cultivate in our students.
A note from the author: A big thank you to my colleague and fellow coach and pedagogical leader, Elizabeth Swanson, for the many conversations we've shared about coaching, teaching, learning, and overall school improvement. I have learned a great deal from her and continue to do so.
References
Aguilar, E. (2013). The Art of Coaching: Effective Strategies for School Transformation. Jossey-Bass.
Fullan, M., & Hargreaves, A. (2012). Professional Capital: Transforming Teaching in Every School. Teachers College Press.
Hattie, J. (2009). Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement. Routledge.
Hattie, J. (2012). Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning. Routledge.
Killion, J. (2008). Coaches’ Roles. Learning Forward.
Knight, J. (2018). The Impact Cycle: What Instructional Coaches Should Do to Foster Powerful Improvements in Teaching. Corwin.
Knight, J. (2021). The Definitive Guide to Instructional Coaching: Seven Factors for Success. ASCD.
Kraft, M. A., Blazar, D., & Hogan, D. (2018). The Effect of Teacher Coaching on Instruction and Achievement: A Meta-Analysis of the Causal Evidence. Review of Educational Research, 88 (4), 547–588.
John Simpson is an international educator, instructional coach, and school leader with 20 years of experience in education, including 15 years in International Baccalaureate World Schools and eight years in the United World College movement. He currently serves as high school pedagogical coordinator at The KAUST School and is passionate about inquiry-driven professional learning, instructional coaching, and building cultures where both students and educators continue to grow.
