How to Coach Resistance (Turning Pushback Into Possibility)

A practical guide for education coaches navigating teacher resistance and driving lasting change

In How to Coach Resistance, bestselling author and coaching expert Elena Aguilar takes on one of the most persistent challenges in education: what to do when teachers push back, shut down, or comply on the surface while changing nothing. Drawing on decades of experience as a teacher, coach, and founder of Bright Morning, Aguilar offers a powerful new understanding of resistance, not as a character flaw or a problem to overcome, but as a signal to interpret.

In the clear, compassionate, story-rich style that has made her one of the most trusted voices in coaching, Aguilar shows that resistance is behavior on the surface, but underneath it are emotions, threatened human needs, and personal and institutional histories that shape how educators respond to change. At the heart of the book is a transformative insight: resistance does not live only in the teacher. It emerges in the space between a teacher’s protection and a coach’s push. That shift changes everything. It means resistance is not fixed, and it gives coaches far more agency than they may realize.

What makes this book especially urgent is its connection to the larger purpose of schooling: serving children. When resistance hardens into cynicism, withdrawal, chronic mistrust, or toxic school culture, it erodes the professional community that strong teaching depends on. It becomes harder for educators to collaborate, reflect honestly, take risks, and create the vibrant, trusting communities that children need and deserve. Bridging one-on-one coaching and group facilitation, How to Coach Resistance brings emotional intelligence, coaching practice, and organizational insight to a topic too often oversimplified. This is not a book about overpowering resistance. It is a book about learning to read it, work with it, and transform it into possibility.