The Micropolitical Forces That Shape Coach Access to Classrooms for Coaching (Poster 1)

• In Event: Exploring the Influence of Organizational and Leadership Contexts on the Work of Coaching

Abstract

In many districts, teachers are not obligated to work with the coaches employed to support teacher learning and instructional improvement. Under such conditions, coaches develop and use strategies to gain access to teachers’ classrooms to fulfill the central goals of their role (Authors, 2022a). These strategies respond to the specific conditions in which coaches work, including organizational structures and interpersonal factors that can facilitate or impede access. We draw on a micropolitical lens which characterizes these conditions as cooperative and conflictive forces. Cooperative forces are conditions that support coaches to gain access, such as structural opportunities to interact with teachers. Conflictive forces are conditions which make gaining access to classrooms more difficult for coaches, such as a lack of understanding of the coach’s role among teachers or administrators. We draw on this perspective to examine the micropolitical landscape of cooperative and conflictive forces that coaches navigate to gain access to teachers’ classrooms.

Methods
In interviews with 28 content-focused coaches in one district in which teachers were not obligated to work with coaches, we asked coaches to describe how they worked to gain access to teachers' classrooms and reflect on the specific cooperative and conflictive conditions they faced in doing so. Interviews were coded inductively to identify and classify conflictive and cooperative forces beyond the coach’s control. Codes were grouped by the source from which they emanated (e.g., school or district structure, administrators, teachers) and then refined and collapsed to identify forces raised by multiple coaches, across multiple school levels and disciplines.

Findings
We identified eight forces that impacted coaches’ access to classrooms, bound together in a micropolitical system of interpersonal and structural forces and influenced by larger macropolitical forces. These forces could act as either cooperative or conflictive forces, depending on the presence, absence, or nature of the force. Interpersonal forces emanated from three actors in the school: administrators, teachers, and the coaches themselves. Administrators shaped access through three forces: (1) administrator’s value for the coach’s role, (2) direct administrative actions to support coaching, and (3) administrators’ influence on the professional learning culture. Qualities of the coach outside their control (i.e., prior teaching experience) influenced access through coaches’ and others’ perceptions of the coach’s competence and authority. Teachers’ degree of openness to coaching and professional learning influenced access. Beyond these interpersonal forces, two structural forces impacted coach access: (1) organizational structures for time and workload, and (2) district policies that promote coaching. Finally, the macropolitical forces of state-level coaching and accountability policies, including regulations on the coaching job description and student level data, influenced access.

Significance
Micropolitical theory illuminates the vast network of cooperative and conflictive forces present within schools which influence how and with whom coaches can engage in their primary job function: supporting teaching and learning. We argue that this theoretical approach can be productively applied to future research on the negotiations inherent to coaching and presents implications for school districts seeking to establish effective coaching programs in which institutional forces are marshaled to support coaching.

Authors

• Jen Munson, Northwestern University

• Evthokia Stephanie Saclarides, University of Cincinnati