The EBTD Coaching & Professional Growth Principles

How safe, clear, and effective coaching cultures are built in Bangladeshi schools

At Evidence Based Teacher Development (EBTD), coaching exists to help teachers and leaders improve practice in ways that directly benefit students — not to judge, label, or control staff.

Our coaching approach is grounded in global evidence on effective feedback, psychological safety, and professional learning, and carefully adapted to the realities of Bangladeshi schools: large classes, heavy workloads, strong hierarchies, and high community expectations.

These principles sit above all EBTD coaching, mentoring, feedback, and leadership development work. They are non-negotiable.
They are not eight separate ideas. They are a connected system.

How the principles work together

Effective coaching cultures are not created by a single technique or conversation. They are built through a clear sequence:

Trust must come before honesty

Without trust, people protect themselves. Coaching becomes silence or compliance.

Feedback must feel safe

Safety is what makes people able to hear feedback and act on it without fear.

Improvement must be supported

If support is missing, accountability turns into blame and people stop taking risks.

Growth must be sustained

Dignity and follow-up determine whether improvement becomes habit or fades away.

Each principle depends on the ones before it. Together, they create the conditions in which honest feedback, sustained improvement, and professional trust can thrive.

Stage 1: Building the conditions for trust

Without trust, people protect themselves. Without trust, coaching becomes silence or compliance.

1. Care and clarity must always come together

Adapted from “Care Personally, Challenge Directly”

Effective coaching combines genuine care for people with clear expectations for practice. Leaders and coaches show care by protecting dignity, listening carefully, and recognising the pressures teachers face. They provide clarity by naming what needs to improve, why it matters, and what effective practice looks like.

Care without clarity leads to silence and stagnation.
Clarity without care leads to fear and compliance.

EBTD coaching insists on both, because trust is built when people feel respected and supported to improve.

2. Psychological safety is a prerequisite for improvement

People only improve when they feel safe enough to be honest. EBTD coaching creates psychological safety by ensuring that:

feedback is respectful and proportionate
mistakes are treated as learning opportunities
conversations focus on growth, not blame
leaders model openness by seeking feedback themselves

This does not mean lowering standards.
It means creating the conditions in which high standards can actually be met.

Together, care, clarity, and safety create permission to engage honestly in professional growth.

Stage 2: Making feedback safe, fair, and usable

Once trust exists, feedback must be framed in a way that people can act on — not defend against.

3. We coach behaviours and practice — never character

EBTD coaching focuses on what was seen and its impact, not on personal traits or intentions. We avoid language that labels people (for example, “unmotivated”, “weak”, “careless”) and instead describe:

specific actions or routines
their impact on students or colleagues
the shared standard we are working towards

People can improve behaviours.
Judging character shuts improvement down.

4. Clarity reduces anxiety; vagueness creates it

Research consistently shows that vague feedback increases stress and reduces performance. EBTD coaching prioritises:

small, clearly defined improvement targets
precise language (what, when, how)
examples and modelling of effective practice

Feedback such as “improve behaviour management” or “be more professional” is replaced with clear, observable actions that can realistically be tried tomorrow.

Clarity is not harsh.
Clarity is kind.

Together, behaviour-focused feedback and clarity ensure that people know exactly what to work on — without fear or confusion.

Stage 3: Enabling improvement, not just demanding it

Even the best feedback fails if people are expected to change without support.

5. Support comes before accountability

Accountability is only fair when people have been properly supported. Before expecting change, EBTD coaching ensures access to:

modelling of good practice
opportunities to practise safely
time to reflect and adjust
practical support matched to context

Holding people to account without support creates fear.
Support without follow-up creates drift.

EBTD coaching deliberately balances both.

6. Improvement happens through small, repeatable steps

EBTD coaching rejects overwhelming targets and one-off training. Instead, it aligns with the EBTD Deliberate Practice Model by focusing on:

one small change at a time
short cycles of practice and feedback
repetition until habits form

This approach respects the realities of Bangladeshi classrooms — limited time, high pressure, and diverse needs — while still driving sustained improvement.

Together, support and small steps make improvement realistic, fair, and sustainable.

Stage 4: Sustaining growth without fear

Culture is shaped not by single conversations, but by what happens over time.

7. Dignity is protected at all times

How feedback is given matters as much as what is said. EBTD coaching ensures that:

sensitive feedback is given privately
public conversations are used for learning, not correction
power, seniority, gender, and status are handled carefully
no one is embarrassed in front of students or colleagues

Protecting dignity is not about avoiding difficult conversations.
It is about making those conversations productive.

8. Follow-up is an act of care, not surveillance

Checking back on agreed actions is part of professional support. EBTD coaching treats follow-up as:

a way to notice effort and improvement
an opportunity to remove barriers
a signal that growth matters

Follow-up is done with curiosity and support, not suspicion.

Without follow-up, coaching becomes talk.
With thoughtful follow-up, it becomes culture.

How these principles fit within the wider EBTD framework

EBTD Leadership Behaviours

Define the values and conduct expected of leaders.

Open page

How Coaching Drives Deliberate Practice

Shows how coaching turns safe conversations into sustained improvement.

Read Page 2

What Good Coaching Sounds Like

A practical reference: language that carries DEFINE–MODEL–PRACTISE–REFINE–REFLECT.

Read Page 3

Together, they ensure that professional growth in Bangladeshi schools is evidence-informed, respectful and inclusive, practical and sustainable, and focused on better outcomes for students.

A final note

These principles are not a checklist to be inspected or enforced. They are commitments to be lived.

When applied consistently, they help schools move away from:

silence disguised as politeness
fear disguised as accountability

and towards a culture where improvement is normal, supported, and shared.