Examining coaches’ feedback to preservice teacher candidates on a core practice
International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education
ISSN: 2046-6854
Article publication date: 9 March 2022
Issue publication date: 29 August 2022
Abstract
Purpose
For preservice teacher candidates (PSTs), receiving feedback on core practices is an important component in supporting the development of their practice. However, coaches are often underprepared to support PSTs on core practices, and feedback can be infrequent or low quality (Anderson and Stillman, 2013; Clarke et al., 2014). Understanding such variation in the content and process for providing feedback to PSTs is important in evaluating and improving feedback effectiveness for amplifying their learning.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors studied feedback provided by coaches in response to a video of a sample PST’s lesson. The authors examined the extent to which coaches’ feedback targeted the core practice of eliciting student thinking and whether this was associated with their assigned PSTs’ instructional practices during student teaching. The authors also questioned whether this aspect of coach feedback could be changed in response to professional development.
Findings
The results provide preliminary evidence that coaches vary in the extent to which they focus feedback on a particular practice, even when directed to do so. Moreover, when coaches provide focused feedback on a core practice, the PSTs that they coach use the core practice during student teaching. Further, coaches’ feedback can be improved through professional development.
Originality/value
This study contributes to a limited evidence base examining the association between feedback and PSTs’ observed practice. It also establishes that coach feedback can be improved with professional development. The authors discuss these results in the context of documenting and improving teacher preparation.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Data collection and preliminary analysis were sponsored by the Cato College of Education, at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The authors gratefully acknowledge the participation of clinical educators, university faculty and staff, and candidates, as well as support from research assistant Laura Deem. Portions of these findings were accepted for presentation at the 2020 American Educational Research Association annual meeting. The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Citation
Cash, A.H., Dack, H. and Leach, W. (2022), "Examining coaches’ feedback to preservice teacher candidates on a core practice", International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, Vol. 11 No. 3, pp. 308-327. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMCE-06-2021-0068
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited