Meetings with other professionals are considered crucial for enhancing the quality of teachers' reflections. However, little is yet known about how any beneficial effects of such meetings are brought about. This study explores the peer coach's roles and their influences on the learning processes of their peers and seeks to understand how watching video records of own practice, supports teachers to examine their own professional behaviour in new ways. Within subgroups three teachers took turns in different roles: as trainee, as coach and as observer of the coaching dialogue. They used video recordings of the interactions in their classrooms as feedback. Data for this study included videotaped and transcribed group dialogues and, for triangulation, data from learning reports, questionnaires, and in-depth semi-structured interviews with all participants.
Coaching promoted broadening the scope of their reflections. Teachers often started just describing work situations with technical reflections on 'how to'. Non-directive coaching skills created necessary safety and space for learning, but video feedback and more directive coaching skills such as 'Continue to ask questions' were necessary to deepen the reflection process and to relate reflections with analysis of feelings, perspectives of other actors, and with political notions concerning social, moral and political issues. Peer coaching with video feedback affords positive impact to those who coach in addition to those who receive the coaching.
Understanding different forms of teacher learning provides insight for research on teacher cognition and may inform the design of video-based professional development.