I have spent much of my professional life thinking about how teachers learn best, not only through courses or workshops, but also through relationships, reflection, and trust. In classrooms in Ethiopia, Honduras, Uzbekistan, and the Pacific Islands, I have observed the same pattern: teachers grow when they have the support of someone who walks alongside them, not someone who gives them instructions from above. That person is commonly known as a coach or pedagogical companion.
Over the years, I have come to see coaching as one of the most valuable, and often underestimated, dimensions of teacher development. It is a bridge that connects ideas with action and links educational theory with what actually happens in the classroom.
What the research tells us
Over the past decade, research has painted a remarkably consistent picture: coaching works. From Boston to rural Liberia, the same pattern repeats itself: when teachers receive regular, structured support focused on their actual classroom practice, both the quality of teaching and student learning improve.
At RTI International, we have seen this time and again in our work. Studies in Kenya, Uganda, and other countries show that teachers who receive regular visits from a trained coach (someone who observes, reflects, and offers focused feedback) are more likely to adopt evidence-based teaching practices and, as a result, are better equipped to help children learn.
In short, when coaching is intentional, sustained and based on trust, it becomes an excellent lever for improving education across all income levels, languages and contexts.
But the question that continues to intrigue me is how. What makes coaching effective? How many visits are enough? What activities make a difference? What kind of conversations help teachers reflect and take action?
At RTI, we have explored these questions for more than a decade, both in research and in practice. And we have learned that frequency alone does not guarantee impact. What really matters is the focus and intentionality of each interaction.
A coaching visit designed around a clear pedagogical goal (for example, a specific early literacy strategy) allows both the coach and the teacher to focus their conversation on observable, evidence-based practices: the use of print materials, strategies for teaching grapheme-phoneme correspondence, or the way children engage in reading aloud.
A good coaching programme is like a carefully designed learning journey. It combines structure with responsiveness. It offers direction but also room for adaptation. That balance is not easy to achieve and requires both solid systemic design and deep human skills.
The heart of coaching: trust and feedback
Jargon aside, coaching is essentially an honest, focused conversation based on trust. Too often, however, post-observation conversations boil down to two extremes: listing everything the teacher did wrong or resorting to vague praise such as “Good lesson”. Neither of these options promotes professional growth.
Teachers learn when they receive specific, qualitative, actionable feedback from someone they value and trust. This interpersonal component is at the very core of effective professional learning.
During our work in Kenya, we conducted nearly a thousand interviews with teachers, coaches, district officials, and ministry representatives. We discovered that coaching works when it feels safe. When teachers believe that the coach is there to support, not inspect. When reflection becomes a shared exploration, not a judgement.
That insight guided us in designing the coaching support feature in Tangerine®, the open-source technology platform for classroom observation and teacher support originally developed by RTI and now managed by the new company Tangerine Central. We wanted coaches to be able to focus on the conversation, while the technology took care of the data.
From Boston to rural Liberia, the same pattern repeats itself: when teachers receive regular, structured support focused on their actual classroom practice, both the quality of teaching and student learning improve.
Technology as an ally
In education, technology is often perceived as an enemy of humanity: screens replacing relationships, control panels replacing empathy. But it doesn’t have to be that way. When designed with purpose, technology can create more space for human connection.
With Tangerine, we seek to do just that. The platform allows coaches to apply a standardised, high-quality tool for classroom observation and automatically analyse the data, highlighting key points for reflection. Instead of spending hours adding up scores or writing lengthy notes, the coach can come to the feedback session with concrete, evidence-based ideas.
This change transforms everything. The conversation becomes data-informed, objective, and practical, yet remains deeply personal. It helps the coach and teacher move from generic praise or criticism to meaningful dialogue: ‘I noticed that students were more engaged when you asked open-ended questions. How could we build on that?’
In this sense, technology does not replace the coach: it amplifies their effectiveness. By taking care of repetitive tasks, it frees them cognitively and emotionally to focus on what really matters: listening, empathising, and guiding.
Scaling support without losing the personal touch
One of the biggest challenges for large education systems is scaling up without losing quality. In Kenya, for example, more than 1,400 curriculum support officers are tasked with visiting schools and mentoring teachers on a regular basis. If we multiply that number by all countries, we quickly arrive at hundreds of thousands of teachers who deserve meaningful support.
But how do we ensure that all these interactions are equally effective, consistent, and fair, especially when coaches have varying levels of training and experience?
Here again, technology can help. By using structured observation tools integrated into platforms such as Tangerine, we can ensure consistency, guaranteeing that coaches know what to observe and use the same criteria. The system guides the observer’s attention to what really matters: Did the teacher engage boys and girls equally? Was enough time given to students to think before responding? Was the activity aligned with the learning objective?
These small questions help maintain fidelity to evidence-based practices in diverse classrooms and regions. And yet, the most important part remains human.
After the observation, it is the coach who must translate what the technology highlights into a personal and context-sensitive conversation. The data can tell us what happened, but it is the coach who helps the teacher understand why and how to improve next time.
Beyond the data: the human factor
When I talk to teachers about coaching, they rarely mention data or tools first. What they remember is how their coach made them feel: respected, understood, motivated. The emotional dimension of learning is powerful, yet too often overlooked in the design of professional development.
In our fieldwork, many teachers have shared how coaching helped them gain confidence in their teaching and see change as possible. That sense of security and encouragement reflects the heart of effective professional support. The best coaches do not act as evaluators; they help teachers recognise their own strengths and build on them.
But even the most dedicated coach can do little if the system does not support them. That is why at RTI we advocate for coaching to be an institutionalised, ongoing, and supported practice, integrated within a multi-pathway teacher professional development system, not a marginal add-on. Coaches also need training, tools, and communities of practice where they can learn and reflect.
The bigger picture: coaching as a system driver
When coaching becomes a regular, well-supported practice within a school system, it transcends the improvement of individual classrooms: it changes the organisational culture. Teachers begin to see professional learning not as a requirement, but as an ongoing dialogue. Data is no longer perceived as a threat but becomes a shared resource.
In our work with ministries and partners, we have seen how coaching can function as a feedback loop between classrooms and education policy. Aggregated observation data helps policymakers understand where teachers need the most support, which strategies are most effective, and how to allocate resources most effectively.
This is the kind of evidence-based ecosystem we need: one that listens to teachers and learns from them.
Where growth really happens
Coaching for change is as much an art as it is a science. It relies on clear frameworks and evidence, but also on patience and the ability to connect with people. The beauty of this work lies in its balance: between data and dialogue, between technology and trust.
When these elements come together, teachers grow not because they are told what to do, but because they feel seen, heard, and supported as professionals.
And when teachers grow, children learn.
