P.E.E.

R COACHING: PROMOTING INSTRUCTIONAL CHANGE

TOWARDS ENHANCED STUDENT OUTCOMES

Betty D Primus @ Betty Adantus

(bdprimus@yahoo.com)

Papar District Education Office

P.O.Box 132, 89608 Papar, Sabah Malaysia
Abstract: The shifts in education realms demand teachers to embrace changes in their teaching
practices to keep abreast with the requirements of the 21st century learning. This research explores the
use of P.E.E.R coaching as a potential means for teacher learning which promotes instructional change
that will lead to improved student outcomes in the English language teaching world. P.E.E.R is the
acronym coined by the researcher for Personalised, Empowering, Engaging and Reflective coaching
strategy, which also refers to the “partnership between teachers in a nonjudgmental environment built
around a collaborative and reflective dialogue. It is a confidential process through which teachers share
their expertise and provide one another with feedback, support, and assistance for the purpose of
enhancing learning by refining present skills, learning new skills, and/or solving classroom-related
problems” (Dalton & Moir, 1991). This research was conducted over a period of seven months with
four experienced English language teachers from four Malaysian secondary schools in the district of
Papar, Sabah. This qualitative research gathers data through observations, interviews and document
reviews to examine the change in the teachers’ instructional practices and the impact this transformation
have on student outcomes. The findings show remarkable change in practice among all the four teachers
which impacted their students’ outcomes positively. This indicates that P.E.E.R coaching is a powerful
strategy to promote instructional change towards enhanced student outcomes.

Keywords: instructional coaching, Peer Coaching, teacher learning