Growing focus on teacher professional development (TPD) and its role in improving both
teacher knowledge and teaching practices has raised questions as to what constitutes best policy
for the continued training of teachers. Research in this area indicates that coaching and
mentoring have established an increasingly important role in the development of sustainable and
effective teacher training programs. TPD initiatives of longer duration using embedded
instructional coaches are proving to have positive impacts on teacher knowledge and mastery of
content. However, ongoing studies in the field are as of yet inconclusive as to whether these have a corresponding impact on student achievement. Given the current state of research, this paper
proposes to examine TPD and coaching practices through the lens of a case study where a training initiative for English teachers in primary schools was undertaken by the Malaysian
Ministry of Education.
