Too often, coaching programs aren’t sustained long-term. Not because people don’t care, or coaches aren’t effective, but because the critical supports aren’t in place to allow coaches, teachers and students to thrive.
A school leader recently shared this reflection:
We brought in coaching because we believed in its potential. We hired a great coach, carved out a little time—and then we waited. But a few months in, not much had changed. It wasn’t resistance. It wasn’t apathy. It was something else. We realized… we didn’t actually have the system in place to support it.
This experience is more common than many realize. Instructional coaching doesn’t fail because of a lack of will—it stalls when the surrounding system isn’t built to support it.
When leaders focus on the conditions in which coaching can thrive—clarity, structures, and sustainable tools—they shift coaching from being an “add on” to being something impactful.
If you are building or refining a coaching program, here are three key areas to consider and reflect on. Each one is shared with the intention to help you and your leadership/coaching team create a stronger foundation so your coaches and teachers are set up for success.
- Clarify Coaching Roles Through Intentional Conversation
In many schools, the coaching role can feel ambiguous. So often, this leads to confusion, inconsistent engagement, or coaching not being used. To help coaching thrive, it needs clarity, which begins with a conversation.
What can this look like?
- A principal or assistant principal sitting down with a coach to define the most impactful focus for the year, be it supporting new teachers, modeling instruction, or strengthening PLCs (see What Coaches Do and Don’t Do).
- Communicating clearly with staff about what coaching is—and what it isn’t.
- Identifying shared success indicators that make coaching efforts visible and aligned.
When the coaching role is clearly defined, teachers know where to turn for support, and coaches feel empowered to focus their efforts. This clarity builds mutual respect and reduces guesswork, creating a stronger, more efficient path to instructional improvement. When coaches know their role and purpose, their impact deepens, alongside the growth of the teachers and students they are supporting.
-
Build Structures That Make Coaching Part of the Culture
A strong coach without the time or structure to do their job is like a great pilot with no runway. System supports ensure coaching becomes embedded, not sporadic.
What can this look like?
- Scheduling regular time for coaching check-ins or co-planning—20–30 minutes biweekly can make a significant difference.
- Integrating coaching insights into staff meetings or professional learning communities.
- Scheduled conversations between a coach and leader overseeing the coaching program focused on coaches’ roles and key uses of time within a typical week/fortnight (see the Time Chart below).
- Ensuring coaching goals are aligned with school-wide initiatives and named in core strategic documents, reinforcing a shared direction.
When coaching is built into the day-to-day structure of a school, it moves from being optional to integral. This signals to teachers that their growth matters and that the system is built to support it. Over time, coaching becomes part of the school’s rhythm, fueling professional learning that is sustained and intentional, not sporadic.
-
Maximizing the Flexibility & Clarity of Video for Greater Flexibility and Clarity
Leaders often strive to create transparency and equity in professional learning. Video can do both.
While it can feel daunting to use it at first, video can help schools or early childhood settings overcome common coaching challenges faced: timetabling, replacing or covering staff, perceptions of ‘observations’, and getting a clear picture of instructional practice.
Beyond helping coaches and teachers get a clear, objective look at their instructional practice, harnessing the power of video can also remove the constant scheduling constraints or staff replacement.
What can this look like?
- Teachers recording short clips of classroom instruction to share and review with their coach or teaching team asynchronously.
- Sharing brief video segments in PLCs to spark collaborative discussion and notice (and celebrate) progress over time.
When used intentionally in coaching programs, video allows teachers to engage in reflective practice without the constraints of scheduling or staffing. Coaches gain clearer insight into instructional moments they might otherwise miss, and teams can revisit teaching examples to track growth and spark meaningful discussion.
The result? A greater shared understanding of effective teaching and learning, a strengthening of teaching practice and greater student outcomes.
The Power of System Support
When school leaders take time to clarify roles, build thoughtful structures, and embrace tools like video, they create the conditions where instructional coaching can truly thrive.
These three areas support both leaders and coaches in doing their best work. Importantly, they also remove the common barriers faced in educational settings the world over.
When leaders and coaches are aligned and supported, the ripple effect can be profound: teachers feel more confident, classrooms become more dynamic, and students experience the kind of learning that sticks.
And it doesn’t require a massive overhaul.
It might start with one focused conversation; one intentional structural change; or one small experiment with video.
Further Resources to Support Leaders
For those interested in exploring more, consider these free resources:
- What Coaches Do & Don’t Do (PDF)
- How Video Can Be Used by Principals (PDF)
- Getting Shared Clarity – A Coaching Time Chart (PDF)
About the Author
As Director of Stakeholder Engagement, Dan is responsible for Growth Coaching International’s system, network and organization-level partnerships and programs across the East Coast of Australia. He also oversees the management and delivery of GCI’s coaching projects across the East Coast of Australia and North America.
A previous assistant principal (Learning, Teaching & Curriculum Innovation) and instructional coach, he has taught and held leadership positions in government, catholic and independent schools across metropolitan Melbourne and remote Western Australia. He is passionate about student engagement and learning, developing aspiring and current leaders, and using coaching approaches to drive improvement in teaching, learning, and leadership in educational settings.
He was more recently Assistant Principal at Aldercourt Primary School in North Frankston, where he led the development of the new whole-school curriculum and teaching and learning model. Coaching was integral to his leadership work across the Frankston North community of schools, and this collaborative work across three schools was recognized in 2022 by winning the Outstanding School Improvement award and Lindsay Thompson Award for Excellence at the Victorian Education Excellence Awards.
Dan is highly regarded for his learner-centered approach; engaging and interactive presentations, workshops and keynotes, and always keeping students, teachers, or leaders he is working with at the core of every learning experience.
His appetite for learning has extended to working as a sessional University tutor with beginning teachers, completing a Bachelor of Education (Hons.), a Master of Educational Leadership (Leading Learning), and pursuing doctoral study on the impact of coaching on leaders.
Contact Information
Email: dsteele@growthcoaching.com.au
X: https://twitter.com/gcieducation
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/daniel-steele/
