Tears from stone: relational being and doing in instructional coaching work

Abstract

ABSTRACT Instructional coaching in schools has historically operated as both a professional role and as a strategy used to support teachers. While the work of instructional coaching was already shifting in response to educational trends and political pressures, the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic brought additional challenges and opportunities. The purpose of this self-study of teacher education practice (S-STEP) was to learn about the relational work of two instructional coaches and a university supervisor of those coaches’ graduate work. The findings of this study emerged from our collaborative learning where we used the Greek myth of Niobe to think about the relational work of serving individual teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. We end this paper with implications for preparing instructional coaches to support teachers and suggestions for future research.