Coach. Empower. Retain: Conference Recordings (Dec 2024)
- Last updated: 30th July, 2026
- IRIS Connect
Educators gathered for an inspiring and collaborative day with like-minded peers, exploring strategies and tools that help schools build teacher agency and adaptive expertise through instructional coaching.
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The Answer to Teacher Retention? Teacher Agency
by Dr. Haili Hughes, Associate Professor, La Trobe University, Former Director of Education, IRIS Connect.
Haili addressed the issues of recruitment and retention, emphasising how teacher agency is often lacking in schools with high turnover rates. She explained that agency is not about teachers simply ‘choosing their own adventure’; it’s about empowering them to make decisions within established cultures and frameworks. This involves taking ownership of their professional development, ensuring it is relevant and focused on solving the specific challenges they face in their classrooms.
Developing Adaptive Expertise With Instructional Coaching
by Sarah Cottinghatt, Former Head of Learning Design, IRIS Connect, Research Lead, Steplab
Sarah Cottinghatt explored adaptive expertise, highlighting how coaching that focuses on decision-making enables teachers to discuss, predict, and refine strategies by engaging their mental models. She introduced the LEARN model of instructional coaching, developed at IRIS Connect, which is centred on this approach.
Scaling Instructional Coaching Across a Trust (Case Study)
by Poppy Nobes, Head of Professional Development, Aldridge Education
Poppy Nobes from Aldridge Education shared how the trust leverages IRIS Connect to capture model practice, quality-assure their coaching and mentoring provision, and enable large-scale collaboration. The trust is doing remarkable work by designing bespoke reflection and coaching pathways, steering clear of a one-size-fits-all approach.
Overcoming Resource Limitations With Pathways + AI
by Andy Newell, Managing Director, IRIS Connect
The day concluded with IRIS Connect founder and Managing Director, Andrew Newell, unveiling our new AI and video-powered adaptive instructional coaching pathway. This innovative tool analyses lesson videos, summarises key moments, links to relevant video segments, and recommends theory and technique guides for further learning. Each technique guide provides a step-by-step breakdown of strategies, complete with video models designed and presented by Sarah Cottinghatt.
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