Leading from the middle

Abstract

Educational coaches report experiencing tension, conflict, and pressure when supporting the needs and interests of teachers within district expectations. This basic qualitative research study sought to answer three research questions: (1) How do educational coaches perceive their role as a teacher leader within their district context? (2) What challenges do educational coaches experience when supporting teaching and learning within their district expectations; How do educational coaches come to terms with those challenges? (3) How would educational coaches re-conceptualize the way coaches serve teachers and schools to meet district needs? Six educational coaches, from three suburban public school districts in Massachusetts and Rhode Island participated in 1:1 semi-structured, open-ended interviews. Utilizing components of organizational role theory and the theory of organizational role dynamics, an analysis of the data revealed that educational coaches are teacher leaders who wear multiple hats when providing professional and personal supports to teachers. Additionally, participants reported experiencing role conflict when enacting the roles and responsibilities of their positions, including: inter-sender conflict, role-person conflict, and role overload. Organizational factors contributing to role overload included: teacher-to-coach ratios, travel between buildings, and scheduling. The findings of this study revealed that participants enacted three coping strategies in an effort to mitigate perceived role conflict. Participants maintained a flexible mindset, built and sustained relationships with teachers, as well as kept an open line of communication between teachers and administration. Participants identified the need for more time to better serve teachers and schools to meet district needs. This included more time for facilitating reflection on teaching practices, collaboration with other educational coaches, as well as more time dedicated to their own professional learning. Participants reported working independently from other coaches in their district. An implication on professional practice includes the recommendation that districts should strategically plan to ensure educational coaching initiatives incorporate interdependent coaching to focus on collective, systemic reform.