Coaching Should Develop Thinkers, Not Dependence
During my years as an early learning coach, I encountered a situation that illustrates the tension between compliance and professional judgment.
An educator was conducting her daily large-group reading activity. Most children were participating in the established routine, but one child wanted to play in centers rather than sit with the group. His behavior interrupted the activity, and the educator faced a familiar dilemma, how could she maintain classroom expectations while responding to this child's needs?
The traditional response was to focus on getting the child to sit, listen, and participate. But coaching requires us to look beyond the immediate behavior. Rather than focusing exclusively on compliance, the situation invited deeper reflection:
What was the child communicating through his behavior?
Was sitting during large-group time necessary to accomplish the learning objective?
Could the educator maintain the purpose of the activity while changing how and when it occurred?
These questions shifted the focus from controlling behavior to understanding development and making intentional instructional decisions. NAEYC (2020) emphasizes that developmentally appropriate practice requires educators to draw on knowledge of child development, individual children, and the social and cultural contexts in which learning occurs.
The educator decided to allow the child to continue playing, giving him a choice rather than insisting on immediate participation. She also reconsidered the length and structure of large-group time. Recognizing that the routine could be shortened, she moved the reading experience to small-group time. Most importantly, she invited the child to select the book.
The instructional goal remained, but the approach changed. The educator had not abandoned expectations. She had exercised professional judgment by adjusting the learning environment to better accommodate children's interests and needs.
What stands out to me about this experience is not simply that the child was given a choice. It is that the educator gave herself permission to think differently.
Self-determination theory identifies autonomy, competence, and relatedness as fundamental psychological needs that support motivation and well-being (Deci & Ryan, 2000). The educator's decision illustrates how opportunities for choice can be incorporated into a learning experience without abandoning its educational purpose. As a coach, my responsibility is not simply to provide strategies that make children comply. It is to help educators examine assumptions, interpret children's behavior, and make thoughtful decisions grounded in developmental knowledge.
Research on teacher coaching has found positive effects on instructional practice and student achievement, although effects vary by context and implementation (Kraft et al., 2018). This reinforces the importance of approaching coaching as professional learning rather than simply correcting educator behavior.
The most important outcome was not getting one child to sit during group time. It was helping an educator recognize that she had the professional capacity to rethink the routine itself.
Sometimes the most powerful coaching question is not, "How can we get this child to follow the routine?" It is, "Does this routine still serve the children it was designed to support?" That is the difference between coaching for compliance and coaching for professional judgment.
References
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227–268. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327965PLI1104_01
Kraft, M. A., Blazar, D., & Hogan, D. (2018). Teacher coaching: A meta-analysis of the causal evidence. Review of Educational Research, 88(4), 547–588. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654318759268
National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2020). Developmentally appropriate practice: A position statement of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. https://www.naeyc.org/resources/position-statements/dap/contents
About the Author
Victoria Long-Coleman, Ph.D., MBA is the Founder and Principal of Early Childhood Innovations. An early childhood educator, leadership, coach, author, speaker, she focuses on strengthening educators, developing leaders, and translating research into practical approaches that improve early childhood systems.
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