27th February 2026
Last year, we launched our new instructional coaching model to support the development of outstanding prison officers on Unlocked’s award-winning graduate programme. This bespoke coaching model is a first-of-its-kind in prisons. It has been built by our expert curriculum team, drawing on evidence from a number of other sectors where this approach has shown significant success.
Over nearly a decade now, we have continually refined and improved our approach to training and supporting those on our programme to be transformational leaders. Instructional coaching is one of the best evidence-informed approaches to professional development, and it has the potential to transform the way that we support those working in prisons, enabling them to have the greatest possible impact.
We spoke to Ailsa Campbell, Unlocked’s Head of Curriculum, to find out more about our instructional coaching model, why it is so exciting, and how we are sharing it with colleagues and partners across the system.
What is instructional coaching?
Instructional coaching is an approach to professional development that involves working with an expert coach to identify areas for development, breaking them down into small steps, providing best-practice models, and then supporting regular practice with feedback.
It enables professionals to build a series of discreet, learnable skills into their everyday practice, supporting them to continually improve and have a greater impact in their work. I would also add that coaches identify areas of practice that are going well and offer praise to their coachee as well. They will spend time discussing why it was so effective and the impact it could have. So often, we miss the opportunities to recognise and celebrate what is going well in prisons.
Why have we introduced instructional coaching?
Traditional training approaches – where a new concept or set of skills are delivered through one-off sessions, usually to a large group – can pose challenges. People often forget content, and they’re usually working in busy, stressful environments which make it difficult to apply new skills. It’s also very difficult to adapt training for an individual’s needs in a large group, so that it’s neither too challenging nor too easy. We also know that ongoing support and reinforcement to encourage continued change is often unavailable.
Training in many other sectors – including medicine, sport and education – does not just involve one-off training sessions. For example, a doctor wouldn’t just watch someone carry out a complex procedure and then do the same on a patient at the next opportunity. So why would we expect prison officers to apply a complex relational technique on the landings without having the opportunity to work with a coach to break down that skill, practise it, and get tailored feedback?
I’ve spent years building instructional coaching into training for teachers and social workers. I’ve seen first-hand the impact it can have on developing outstanding leaders across public services, and how this can translate to better outcomes for those in their care – often some of the hardest to reach people. Too often, those on the frontline of prisons have to improve through trial and error which can be ineffective and inefficient – and result in the wrong lessons being learnt. We believe instructional coaching can make a real difference, ensuring staff have access to the ongoing support and training they need to do their jobs excellently and transform outcomes.
How does Unlocked’s instructional coaching model work?
At Unlocked, our training model has always applied certain elements of instructional coaching, and we are really pleased to have now built our own bespoke model. This model is primarily delivered by our team of Mentoring Prison Officers (MPOs) who are experts in effective practice on the landings. They observe our participants – in both live and controlled environments – and provide individual feedback in line with the techniques which we know make a real difference. To enable participants to improve, they facilitate deliberate practice with the support of our best-practice video models and guidelines.
To ensure this model is as effective as possible, we continue to work closely with a number of internationally recognised experts to develop and improve it, including leading professional development platform Steplab.
What impact do we hope this will have in our prisons?
Since we first launched our instructional coaching model last year, I have spent a huge amount of time working with our mentors and understanding the impact this approach is having. Participants have reported that they really value receiving praise and recognition for what they are doing well. Others have recognised the value of being able to spend time setting goals with their MPOs and can see how this impacts on the prisoners in their care, helping to build positive relationships that support rehabilitation.
Our aim is to continue sharing this model widely, giving colleagues and partners across the prison service access to our unique insights into developing outstanding prison leaders so that all frontline staff can benefit from this level of support – ultimately improving outcomes for those in their care. We have also codified our model into a book which gives clear guidance on the key techniques that prison officers need in order to master effective relational practice. This has allowed us to share our training approach with colleagues across the country and internationally.