An Exploration of Coaches’ Coordination of Micropolitical Strategies to Gain Access to Teachers’ Classrooms

Abstract

For coaching to fulfill its promise as an effective teacher professional development model, coaches need access to teachers’ classrooms and practice. However, teachers largely have autonomy over whether, when, and how such access is granted. Previous research has identified the types of strategies coaches leverage to gain access, and in this study, we explore whether and how coaches deliberately coordinate multiple strategies to gain access. Drawing on interviews conducted with 28 content-focused coaches, we found that gaining access involved orchestrating a complex network of micropolitical strategies and propose an emergent model depicting how coaches coordinate access-granting strategies. These findings indicate that developing and coordinating a repertoire of access-granting strategies is a sophisticated coaching practice in itself and a gatekeeper to initiating professional development activities with teachers. Implications for school districts and research are discussed.