An introduction to instructional coaching

This article was written by colleagues at the Chartered College of Teaching. The Instructional coaching approach differs from other mentoring and coaching approaches in a number of ways. This content introduces you to key concepts and principles of instructional coaching. As you read this article, reflect on how the approaches of instructional coaching may be applied to support early career teachers in your own context. What is instructional coaching? The terms 'coaching' and 'mentoring' are often used interchangeably, and can also be used to describe a very wide range of different practices. It is worth reflecting on these briefly here. On a very simple level, mentoring relationships are often seen as 'expert-novice' relationships, where an expert mentor shares their experience, knowledge and skills with a less experienced 'apprentice'; trainee teachers and NQTs are allocated mentors of course, but new school leaders, for example, may also be allocated mentors to supp