What Great Coaching Does and Doesn't Look Like, Mind the Gap, Ep.119 (S6,E17)

About this episode

The episode explores the complexities of instructional coaching and its impact on teacher decision-making and student outcomes.

On this episode of Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by Sarah Cottinghatt and Adam Kohlbeck to explore the craft and complexity of instructional coaching, drawing on their widely shared Coaching Cuts series on Substack. The conversation unpacks how coaching can move beyond surface-level feedback to focus on teacher decision-making and mental models, and why the most powerful coaching conversations centre on surfacing goals, comparing versions of events, and working collaboratively towards better outcomes for pupils. Through concrete examples, they illustrate how shifts in language and mindset can transform the quality of coaching dialogue. Along the way, they tackle bigger questions about scaling coaching across schools, the balance between whole-school professional development and one-to-one work, and the importance of a shared understanding of how learning happens as the foundation for any meaningful improvement. Sarah Cottinghatt is Research Lead at Steplab. She is a former English teacher, teacher educator, and Associate Dean at Ambition Institute. Sarah has an MA in Educational Neuroscience and writes books for teachers and coaches, including…

People in this episode

Hosts: Tom Sherrington, Emma Turner

Guests: Sarah Cottinghatt, Adam Kohlbeck

Topics covered

• instructional coaching
• teacher decision-making
• professional development
• collaborative work
• educational improvement

Keywords

• Coaching Cuts
• educational neuroscience
• teacher feedback
• coaching dialogue

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Substack, Coaching Cuts, Ausubel's Meaningful Learning in Action, Coaching for Adaptive Expertise

Books & works: Mind the Gap, Coaching Cuts, Meaningful Learning in Action, Coaching Cuts and Coaching for Adaptive Expertise

Places: UK

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