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Schools That Coach
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Schools That Coach
Leading Schools Through the Power of Coaching

September 2026 | 192 pages | Corwin
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Embed coaching at the heart of your school to unlock the potential of every educator and student

Real, lasting school improvement requires more than just new strategies—it takes a culture where people feel supported, trusted, and empowered to grow. Schools That Coach: Leading Schools Through the Power of Coaching provides school leaders with the research-backed knowledge, frameworks, and practical inspiration to integrate coaching into their daily community.

Drawing on more than 70 years of collective experience, Christian van Nieuwerburgh, Jim Knight, and John Campbell combine their expertise to provide an accessible and practical guide to leading schools through the power of coaching. Inside, you’ll find:

  • The GROWTH Model and Impact Cycle: Two proven frameworks for supporting meaningful professional development.
  • Advanced communication skills: Techniques for active listening, powerful questioning, and appreciative approaches rooted in positive psychology.
  • Practical strategies: Step-by-step guidance on building coaching cultures that engage leaders, teachers, students, and families.
  • Global perspectives: Insights from North America, Australia, and the U.K., adaptable to any school environment.

This book equips educational leaders with the mindset and tools to build schools where every adult grows and every student thrives.

 
Chapter 1: Towards Ideal Environments for Learning
 
Chapter 2: Telling versus Partnership
 
Chapter 3: The GROWTH Model
 
Chapter 4: Ensuring the Success of Instructional Coaching
 
Chapter 5: The Partnership Principles
 
Chapter 6: Next-Level Communication Skills
 
Chapter 7: Positive Psychology Approaches to Coaching
 
Chapter 8: How Leaders Create Schools That Coach
 
Chapter 9: Leading With a Coaching Approach
 
Chapter 10: Putting It All Together
Key features

This book equips educators with both the mindset and tools to create coaching-driven schools where people feel valued, develop professionally, and ultimately help students thrive.

  • Presents coaching not just as a strategy, but as a mindset and “way of being” grounded in respect, trust, and curiosity.
  • Draws on decades of global experience and established bodies of work in instructional coaching, growth coaching, and coaching psychology.
  • Integrates insights from North America, Australia/New Zealand, and the UK/Europe, offering a broad, cross-cultural view of coaching in education.
  • Provides frameworks, examples, and approaches without prescribing a one-size-fits-all model, allowing adaptation to different school contexts.
  • Highlights essential skills such as deep listening, questioning, reflection, and future-focused thinking.
  • Reframes professional development as collaborative, reflective, and agentic rather than top-down.
  • Synthesizes three major coaching traditions into a unified, coherent approach.
  • Designed for both sequential reading and selective use based on the reader’s needs and priorities.