Adelaide Sep 1st - Steplab Instructional Coaching Intensive

Led by Steplab Australia’s Director of Implementation, Rory McCaughey, and PD Specialist Maxine Galante, this full-day Instructional Coaching Intensive will equip school leaders with practical, high-leverage coaching tools to strengthen instructional coaching and professional development in their schools.

Following an introduction covering the research base for Instructional Coaching, we will dive deep with attendees, covering in detail how to:

• collect high-quality observation data
• identify progress already made by your coachee
• diagnose an effective next step
• give targeted and effective praise as a starting point and springboard for a productive coaching conversation
• propose an action step* to your coachee in a way that helps them to feel inspired and motivated to take on the challenge
• model teaching strategies in ways that communicate their core components
• support your coachee to effectively plan how to implement their action step in the classroom
• run rehearsal with a coachee in a way that helps them to begin to build the habit of practice excellence

The day will be a true intensive, designed to rapidly accelerate your coaching confidence and expertise, regardless of your starting point.

Every insight throughout the day will be clearly and concisely communicated and demonstrated, with lots of opportunities for rehearsal and consolidation provided. 

You do not need to be a Steplab user or school to attend this PD and all principles and practices shared within the PD are entirely applicable to a wide range of Instructional Coaching approaches, both with and without Steplab.

*An action step is a granular, rehearsable, high-leverage action that a coachee can take to increase the learning in their classroom. 

Details

• Date: Tuesday, September 1st, 2026
• Time: 9am - 4pm
• Location: Trinity College Gawler, Alexander Avenue, Evanston South 5114
• Included: All training materials, full-day PD, morning tea and lunch

Pre-learning

A great primer for this professional development are the two free podcasts between Ollie and Josh. Listen to episode 74a and 74b of the Education Research Reading Room Podcast here, or via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favourite podcasting app. 

Testimonials

Following a prior Intensive, prominent educators Lee Musumeci, Toni Hatten-Roberts, and Rebecca Birch had the following to say:

"We have reviewed many coaching frameworks in search of the most effective way for our coaches to develop instructional practice in classrooms. Attending the Steplab Instructional Coaching PL as a leadership team has left us in no doubt about our implementation of Steplab as our key strategy to develop teaching and teachers. Our instructional coaches now have a consistent language and fine grained, actionable steps to support teachers in their instructional practice. This is essential PL for any leadership team looking for school-wide consistency. A clever blend of theory and practice will leave you with both the knowledge and skills to return to your school tomorrow and improve instruction."

• Lee Musumeci, Principal, Challis Community Primary School

"The Steplab (coaching) intensive was truly inspiring! The presenters were engaging and on point. The day provided a great mix of understanding the evidence that underpins Instructional Coaching, as well as practical sessions throughout. Each step was modelled by the presenters and as attendees, we were involved in ‘deliberate practice’ of the key routines that make up the stages of being a highly effective coach."

• Toni Hatten-Roberts, Pedagogy Coach, Coglearn

"The Steplab intensive was a brilliant springboard for bringing a coaching program to my school. The day was comprehensive and structured in a way that enabled participants like me to apply key concepts straight away. What I loved was that the presenters balanced the practical with the human side of sustainable and effective coaching."

• Rebecca Birch, Director of Research & Practise, Queenwood 

Discounts codes

• 10% off discount for 3 or more staff. Code: 3ormore
• 15% off discount for 3 or more staff, including principal. Code: 3ormoreincprin
• 20% off discount for each Steplab account at your school* Code: steplabaccount 

*For example, if your school currently has a Steplab license for 8 users, you can use this code for 8 attendees (any 8 staff members from your school) to this intensive.

About 

Rory McCaughey

Rory partners with schools across Australia to design and sustain high-impact professional development, providing ongoing support throughout the year. He is a teacher and leader with 14 years’ classroom experience, holds a Masters in Education, and co-hosts the Educate to Self-Regulate podcast. He has delivered high-impact training for staff around the country, bridging classroom practice and education research.

Maxine is a PD Specialist for Steplab Australia. A former Deputy Principal with 12 years’ of classroom and leadership experience across schools in the ACT and Western Australia, she is passionate about helping schools build high-impact, sustainable professional development. In 2022, Maxine was recognised with ACEL’s New Voice in Educational Leadership Award for her contribution to educational leadership. She works closely with schools across Australia to strengthen instructional coaching and leadership practice.

See the full Steplab team here

Steplab

Steplab is a professional learning platform for schools that harnesses instructional coaching and data-driven insights to systematically improve teaching and learning. It is the primary tool of choice to drive improvement in many of the top schools in the UK, and within five years has grown to be used in over over 3000 schools, and with over 100,000 teachers. Its content and design team involves Josh Goodrich, Peps Mccrea, Harry Fletcher-Wood and Ollie Lovell.

Cancellation policy

Cancellation and refund requests will be processed as follows:

• 30 or more days before event: 100% refund
• 2 or more weeks before event: 50% refund or ticket transfer to alternate participant for same event (free) 
• Less than 2 weeks before event: ticket transfer to alternate participant for same event (free) or postponement to future event ($50 + GST fee) available