More from this theme Recent articles Many coaches will recognise the situation. They have observed a teacher’s lesson and spotted some room for improvement, perhaps around behaviour management. The coach and teacher jointly identify the part of the lesson where things began to go wrong and discuss what the teacher could have done differently. They discuss the theory behind the new approach and the two of them practise together in a role play. Everything seems to be progressing nicely. But then, back in the classroom, things look a little different. The pupils inevitably don’t behave quite like they did in the role play. And the lesson format is, naturally, somewhat different. The teacher misses opportunities to apply what they learned and draws on some of the focal techniques at the wrong time. The progress gets lost in translation. Understanding how to support teachers to adapt and transfer what they have learned is a big challenge for teacher educators. All professional development delivered outside of the classroom ultimately needs to bridge the gap back to the …