Instructional Coaching

Develop a deep understanding of instructional coaching, building your confidence and expertise to coach teachers to improve their practice in your school.

  • Gain confidence to be an expert coach
  • Tailored to the challenges in your setting
  • Develop teacher expertise across your school
  • Led by coaches with extensive experience in instructional coaching
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Why Us?

We’ve designed this programme for experienced teachers who want to implement instructional coaching and develop teacher expertise across a school or trust.

The course draws on over 5 years of experience of supporting schools to implement instructional coaching in a range of settings.

Across one term, you’ll be supported to better understand instructional coaching. You’ll gain the confidence to tailor the approach to your context and develop the knowledge to scale up across your school or trust, benefiting a greater number of staff.

You’ll train alongside fellow teacher educators, working together to build a network of peers tackling similar challenges as you.

Benefits of instructional coaching:

Benefits for you

Transform teaching

By learning the foundations of instructional coaching, you’ll be able support colleagues in your school or trust to develop their expertise and improve pupil outcomes.

Build on existing experience

This programme is designed for those who have a strong interest in teacher education and development. You’ll build on your existing responsibility for developing teachers, maximising your impact in your school or trust.

Personalised to you

You’ll develop a deep understanding of the principles of instructional coaching and teacher education, rather than follow one specific model. This means you’ll be able to tailor your coaching approach to the needs of your colleagues and school.

One-to-one coaching

You will be coached on both your teaching and your coaching by an experienced coach. You’ll receive feedback on how to improve across the duration of the programme.

Connect with peers

You’ll train alongside fellow teacher educators, joining a network that lasts long after the programme finishes.

Benefits for your school

See school-wide improvement

Having an instructional coach in your school who can support other staff, can have a school-wide impact on the quality of teaching. Enquire here to learn more about how this programme can benefit multiple educators or staff in your school. A member of the Ambition team will be in touch.

Develop teacher expertise

Instructional coaching supports teachers to identify what to improve and how to do it, benefitting the broader quality of teaching at your school.

Tailored to your context

Our programme is designed to be tailored to your school or trust’s specific context. Participants will learn the principles of teacher education and instructional coaching, including how and why it works. This gives them the ability to evaluate and match a coaching approach to the needs of your staff.

Improve pupil outcomes

There is strong evidence to suggest that instructional coaching not only affects teaching quality, but also pupil outcomes. *

Retain your best teachers

Investing in your teachers' professional development can help them become more effective in their roles and retain them within your organisation.

Source Sims, S (2019), “Four reasons instructional coaching is currently the best-evidenced form of CPD”.

Why enrol on our Instructional Coaching programme?

This is what some of our 2024 programme graduates had to say about their decision to enrol on this programme.
''To continue to develop teaching and learning in my school and across my Trust.''
''To give me the confidence in supporting other staff members.''
''To improve and refine practice in the school.''
''To ensure I was exposed to some of the best thinking about coaching.''
''Acted as a mentor and supporting ECTs as well as passion for T&L''

Frequently asked questions

How does instructional coaching benefit teachers and schools?

Having an instructional coach in your school who can support other staff, can have a school-wide impact on the quality of teaching. Enquire here to learn more about how this programme can benefit multiple educators or staff in your school. A member of the Ambition team will be in touch.

Instructional coaching supports teachers to identify what to improve and how to do it, benefitting the broader quality of teaching at your school.

Can I receive support in tailoring instructional coaching to my school's context?

Our programme is designed to be tailored to your school or trust’s specific context. Participants will learn the principles of teacher education and instructional coaching, including how and why it works. This gives them the ability to evaluate and match a coaching approach to the needs of your staff.

What are the costs associated with the Instructional Coaching programme?

This course costs £1,350 +VAT per participant.

How can I apply for the Instructional Coaching programme?

Complete an Instructional Coaching application here.

Ensure you answer the questions in full.

Where there are multiple programme start dates available please select the cohort most suitable for you.

Who is the Instructional Coaching programme designed for?

To apply, you need to be an experienced classroom teacher who can influence teaching and learning. For example experience of supporting colleagues, as a mentor, leader of CPD or lead practitioner.

Is there any prerequisite experience required to join the Instructional Coaching programme?

You’ll ideally have leadership responsibility in your school with responsibility for developing teaching colleagues. This may include roles such as head of department, lead practitioner or professional mentor.

How long is the Instructional Coaching programme?

The programme is delivered over one-term, split into four development days, three one-to-one virtual coaching sessions and inter-sessional reading.

What is Instructional Coaching?

Instructional coaching of teachers seeks to fulfil a similar function to that of a football coach. Coaches observe lessons and select the area which they think will most improve the teacher’s practice. They then identify how the teacher can improve in this area, creating manageable, bite-sized steps for improvement.

Instructional coaching has the impact that it does because of its specificity and incremental nature. It also acknowledges that teachers need high levels of support to adopt new habits in the complex environments of their classrooms.

Overview

Our Instructional Coaching programme is delivered via live, facilitated sessions with fellow teacher educators.

It’s designed so you build your theoretical knowledge of coaching and how it relates to mechanisms underpinning professional learning. You will also gain practical knowledge and experience of how to coach with skill and confidence.

We purposefully keep cohort sizes smaller on this course, giving our experienced facilitators the time to understand your context and to provide you a more personalised experience during your time on the programme.

Over one term, the course includes 27 hours of facilitator-led development:

  • 4 development days
  • 3 individual coaching sessions
  • Intersession collaboration and reading

What you'll learn

You will learn the foundational principles of instructional coaching and what it looks like in the context of teaching.

This one-term programme is split into four development days:

  • The science of teacher learning – what makes teacher learning particularly challenging? How can we support teachers to overcome some of these challenges?
  • Instructional coaching and behaviour change – why might teachers struggle to change their teaching practice? How can we support them to make changes?
  • Instructional coaching and knowledge development – why is it so important for teachers to understand the purpose of their classroom actions? How can we make this central to our coaching?
  • Embedding instructional coaching – what are the practical and cultural challenges of implementing a programme of instructional coaching? How can we overcome these challenges?

How you'll learn

The content is delivered via four virtual development days, enabling you to connect with your fellow teacher educators.

There are also three one-to-one, virtual coaching sessions, where you'll be supported by an expert instructional coach. You will share recordings of your teaching and coaching practice to engage in tailored coaching support.

Note: programme content is subject to change.

Cost

This course costs £1,350 +VAT per person.

Please consider how you will fund the cost of this course. You may need to seek approval from your school or trust if this is not funded by yourself.

Eligibility

Who is the Instructional Coaching programme designed for?

To apply, you need to be an experienced classroom teacher who can influence teaching and learning. For example experience of supporting colleagues, as a mentor, leader of CPD or lead practitioner.

Is there any prerequisite experience required to join the Instructional Coaching programme?

You’ll ideally have leadership responsibility in your school with responsibility for developing teaching colleagues. This may include roles such as head of department, lead practitioner or professional mentor.

Apply

Our next cohort starts in January 2025. Apply by 17 December to join our next cohort.

How can I apply for the Instructional Coaching programme?

Complete an Instructional Coachingapplication here.
Ensure you answer the questions in full.
Where there are multiple programme start dates available please select the cohort most suitable for you.

How long is the Instructional Coaching programme?

The programme is delivered over one-term, split into four development days, three one-to-one virtual coaching sessions and inter-sessional reading.


Alternatively enquire here to learn more about how this programme can benefit multiple educators or staff in your school. A member of the Ambition team will be in touch.

Ambition Institute operates a waitlist where any programme receives more successful applications than there are places available. Applicants will be automatically added to the waitlist upon successful application once a programme is oversubscribed. You can find more information on how our waitlist operate here.

School wide

Ambition Institute can work with you to design a professional development package for you and your trust which will focus on your specific development needs and priorities.

Enquire here to learn more about how this programme can benefit multiple educators or staff in your school. A member of the Ambition team will be in touch.

Interested in the programme?