Research School Network: Who Coaches the Coaches? John Hern summarises the evidence – how do coaches get better at coaching?

Instructional coaches often aren’t sure what to do when first appointed. It is common even for successful instructional coaches to feel lost at first as the challenges of coaching are different to those of teaching. New coaches report unease at first, being a novice at something having previously been a successful classroom teacher.

Evidence shows that the effectiveness of coaches varies widely. The abstracts of studies generally report the overall average effectiveness of multiple instructional coaches. These averages can hide useful intricacies and looking into details can show that some coaches show even greater improvement in their students’ academic success than the overall effect size.

Just as the effectiveness of a teacher’s classroom practice can be nurtured and blossom when working with an effective instructional coach, so can be said of the effectiveness of the coaches themselves. 

So how do schools and coaching programmes support instructional coaches to be the very best coach they can be?

The answer appears to be peer-coaching of coaches by other coaches. This appears to work in two different fashions. Experienced expert coaches can observe another coach coaching and provide feedback and support in the form of a coaching cycle of their own. Working with the coach to identify a performance goal, then supporting the coach to practice this before observing the impact of the practice.

Alternatively, instructional coaches report the benefit of being coached in the classroom themselves. Coaches benefit from the experience of being coached by an expert. It allows them to experience how challenging it is to be coached.

Some schools or coaching programmes create a directed path for inexperienced coaches to follow, helping them make their coaching decisions. Coaching can be more effective when coaches have access to a common repertoire of effective pedagogy and a shared language within the school to describe it. Efficient whole-school training of staff in common routines or pedagogical strategies reduces the input a coach might need to make in a one-to-one coaching session.

Lastly, schools where instructional coaching is embedded into the heart of the culture, where a genuine open-door culture of trust permeates through the staff, make it more likely for staff to accept the offer of a coaching partnership.

Who coaches the coaches? Coaches do.
Feedback is a gift and I welcome a discussion at @dr_hern

John Hern teaches at Dixons McMillan Academy. He is also an Evidence Lead for Dixons Academies Trust, focusing on the evidence around coaching.