THE CONSTANT WORK OF ACCESS How Coaches Use Strategies to Respond to the Micropolitical Forces That Shape Their Classroom Access

Coaches develop and use a complex system of strategies to gain access to teachers’ classrooms for coaching. In the process, coaches confront micropolitical forces within the school organization that shape access, either enhancing or impeding coaches’ chances of being viewed as a trusted and valued partner in teacher learning. In this qualitative interview study with 28 content-focused coaches in one school district, we used a micropolitical lens to better understand how coaches coordinate micropolitical forces and strategies to gain access to teachers’ classrooms, findingthat force-strategy coupling was a prevalent coaching practice. We found that coaches most frequently reported using strategies to respond to 2 micropolitical forces: (1) teacher openness to coaching and (2) structures of time and workload. Coaches responded to these forces differently depending on whether the force functioned to support or inhibit access. This research expands on the micropolitical work of coaching and coach agency.