Adaptive Coaching

What is adaptive coaching?

Adaptive coaching is grounded in the idea that teaching should be continually shaped by evidence from the classroom so that all pupils are supported to make meaningful progress, and that learning is most effective when pupils are actively involved in understanding their own progress, reflecting on feedback and taking increasing responsibility for how they improve over time, supported through purposeful coaching that builds independence as well as achievement.

Adaptive coaching focuses on five key areas.

Coaching Approach focuses on how teachers support pupils to take ownership of their learning through clear goals, structured feedback and reflective conversations that guide improvement.
Scaffolding & Instructional Design focuses on how learning is carefully sequenced and supported so pupils can access new concepts while gradually developing independence and confidence.
Support & Environment focuses on creating the right conditions for learning, including effective use of resources, adult support and classroom organisation to reduce barriers and maintain engagement.
Checking Understanding focuses on the ongoing use of formative assessment to identify what pupils know and can do, allowing teaching to be adapted so misconceptions are addressed and learning is strengthened.
Responsive Teaching Actions focuses on how teachers continuously adjust their teaching in response to live classroom evidence, including checking understanding and gathering pupil feedback, responsive reteaching and revisiting of learning, and adjusting pace to ensure learning remains appropriately challenging and accessible.

Coaching Approach

Using a coaching approach, pupils setting targets, using success ladders and creating personalised learning plans
Using exemplars, pupil checklists, spotting success & success criteria
Fostering a growth mindset & celebrating effort, persistence and progress
Reflective practice, learning journals, peer coaching & feedback, and encouragement scripts

Scaffolding & Instructional Design

Dual coding, worked examples, concrete examples & modelling
Chunking, tiered tasks, sentence starters & writing frames
Learning menus and choice boards
Flipped learning & pre-teaching
Metacognition & interleaving

Support & Environment

Effective use of teaching assistants
Seating plans & behaviour
Resources including vocabulary lists.

Checking Understanding

Questioning effectively using hinge questions, targeted questions, Think-Pair-Share, Jigsaw tasks, targeting misconceptions, linking prior knowledge and retrieval practice warm-ups

Responsive Teaching Actions

Checking for student understanding & seeking pupil feedback, using mini-whiteboards, thumbs up, exit tickets & traffic light systems
Responsive reteaching, revisiting leaning outcomes & reframing
Changing pace

Download the free Adaptive Teaching & Coaching PDF for the full version