The principles create the conditions
Trust, clarity, dignity, support, and follow-up make coaching safe enough to work.
How EBTD Coaching Drives Deliberate Practice
Turning safe conversations into sustained improvement
At Evidence Based Teacher Development (EBTD), coaching is not separate from improvement. It is the human layer that carries improvement into daily school life.
The Coaching & Professional Growth Principles (Page 1) describe the conditions required for effective coaching: trust, clarity, dignity, support, and follow-up. Together, those principles create a safe environment where people can engage honestly with their practice.
This page shows what happens next.
Once those conditions are in place, coaching becomes the mechanism through which improvement actually happens — by driving the
EBTD Deliberate Practice Model: DEFINE – MODEL – PRACTISE – REFINE – REFLECT.
Coaching is the bridge between principles and practice
In other words:
Deliberate practice creates the change
Small steps, repeated and refined, are what turn good intentions into new habits.
Coaching is what carries improvement into the ordinary moments of school life — short conversations, small rehearsals, and consistent follow-up that turns change into habit.
Read next: The EBTD Deliberate Practice Model
DEFINE – MODEL – PRACTISE – REFINE – REFLECT
How the principles connect to deliberate practice
The coaching principles create the conditions. This is what those conditions make possible.
Building trust enables DEFINE
Leaders can name one clear improvement focus without fear or defensiveness.
Giving feedback safely enables MODEL
People can watch, copy, and break practice down without feeling judged.
Enabling improvement enables PRACTISE & REFINE
Rehearsal and precise tweaks replace blame, overload, and vague advice.
Sustaining growth enables REFLECT
Follow-up with care turns reflection into habit, not compliance.
Good coaching does not add extra initiatives. It makes improvement feel manageable: one small change, clearly modelled, practised safely, refined precisely, and reflected on honestly.
1. DEFINE — Choose one small change that matters
Create clarity. Remove guesswork. Focus improvement.
Coaching language that enables DEFINE
- “I want to focus on one small part of the lesson.”
- “Let’s choose one thing that would make the biggest difference.”
- “What could we realistically improve tomorrow?”
- “If we fixed just this, what would students experience differently?”
What the coach is doing
- Naming a specific behaviour (not a general weakness)
- Narrowing the focus deliberately
- Linking the change to student learning or colleague clarity
DEFINE reduces anxiety by replacing vague expectations with a clear, achievable target.
2. MODEL — See clearly what the change looks like
Build confidence by removing ambiguity.
Coaching language that enables MODEL
- “Let me show you what this could look like.”
- “Here’s a simple way to structure the first 60 seconds.”
- “Watch how I do this part, then we’ll break it down.”
- “Notice what happens when I pause here.”
What the coach is doing
- Making practice visible
- Breaking it into steps
- Explaining the “why” behind each step
Seeing effective practice is more powerful than being told about it. MODEL prevents teachers from having to guess.
3. PRACTISE — Try it safely in short, low-stakes bursts
Make change possible before real pressure.
Coaching language that enables PRACTISE
- “Let’s practise this just for 30 seconds.”
- “This doesn’t need to be perfect — it’s just a first try.”
- “I’ll play the student; you try the opening.”
- “Let’s do it once more and see how it feels.”
What the coach is doing
- Creating a judgement-free space
- Normalising awkwardness
- Repeating the same action several times
Teaching and leadership are performance professions. PRACTISE makes improvement possible without risk to confidence or authority.
4. REFINE — Improve it through tiny, specific adjustments
Turn practice into progress.
Coaching language that enables REFINE
- “One small adjustment that could help is…”
- “Try waiting two seconds longer before speaking.”
- “That was clearer — let’s repeat it with that change.”
- “Keep everything else the same and just adjust this part.”
What the coach is doing
- Giving one piece of precise feedback
- Avoiding overload
- Encouraging immediate retry
Feedback works best when it is specific, limited, and immediately actionable.
5. REFLECT — Use it in real life and learn from it
Turn short-term change into habit.
Coaching language that enables REFLECT
- “When you tried it, what changed?”
- “What felt easier this time?”
- “What got in the way?”
- “What will you keep, and what will you adjust next?”
What the coach is doing
- Encouraging evidence-based reflection
- Preventing slip-back into old habits
- Setting up the next DEFINE
Reflection consolidates learning and creates continuity between practice and real-world use.
The coaching–practice link at a glance
Coaching move
- Naming one clear focus
- Showing what it looks like
- Rehearsing safely
- Giving one small tweak
- Checking impact and next step
Deliberate Practice stage
- DEFINE
- MODEL
- PRACTISE
- REFINE
- REFLECT
Coaching makes the cycle usable in real schools.
When coaching conversations consistently follow this structure, feedback feels purposeful, improvement feels manageable, and follow-up feels supportive — not punitive. Trust grows alongside standards.
Continue the sequence
Page 1: Coaching Principles
The conditions required for coaching to work: trust, clarity, dignity, support, and follow-up.
Open Page 1Deliberate Practice Model
The improvement cycle that turns small changes into lasting habits in Bangladesh.
Open modelPage 3: What Good Coaching Sounds Like
Practical language leaders and teachers can use, mapped to DEFINE–REFLECT.
Read Page 3