Coaching is a promising form of professional development for early childhood educators. Yet, little is known about what happens during coaching and how it is perceived. This study examined the coaching practices of two coaches in Australia over several months and used a typology of coaching or mentoring ‘roles’ to analyse the degree to which the coaches promoted a sense of autonomy for educators. We found that coaches led the coaching more than they intended, and their perceived coaching practices differed from their intended approaches, their observed practices and the perceptions of educators. This study underlines the value of collecting information from a range of perspectives to understand what happens during coaching.