Teacher Coaching and Consultation with Active Components for the Implementation of Social-Emotional Learning Programs in Basic Education: A Systematic Review with Thematic Synthesis.

BACKGROUND: Teacher coaching is a central driver of implementation science, yet no recent review has centered the active components of coaching and consultation, rather than social-emotional learning (SEL) programs themselves, as its primary object of synthesis. ("Basic education" is used throughout this manuscript as the English rendering of the Latin American usage of the term, corresponding to ISCED 2011 levels 0-2: early childhood, primary, and lower-secondary education; it does not include upper-secondary or tertiary education.) This mixed-methods systematic review with thematic synthesis examined how coaching and consultation models with explicit active ingredients (modeling, guided practice, reflection, goal setting, and performance feedback) affect implementation fidelity, dosage, and quality, and students' socioemotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes. METHODS: Following PRISMA 2020 and a prospectively registered protocol (OSF M3846), we searched Scopus, Web of Science, and ERIC, supplemented by snowballing and grey literature searches. Of 341 screened records, 36 studies (2010-2026) met eligibility criteria and underwent data extraction and MMAT quality appraisal by independent reviewers (κ ≥ 0.84). A convergent segregated mixed-methods synthesis integrated qualitative thematic analysis with narrative quantitative synthesis. RESULTS: Four interdependent macro-themes emerged: the systemic and individual conditions enabling coaching; its active technical-relational architecture; fidelity-adaptation tensions when scaling programs across cultures; and a translational cascade whereby high-fidelity coaching is associated with stronger proximal teacher practice and classroom climate, with academic gains emerging later and inconsistently. CONCLUSIONS: Coaching appears most effective when active technical components combine with a non-evaluative consultative alliance under supportive school conditions. We propose adaptive fidelity as a framework reconciling technical rigor with cultural responsiveness, relevant for scaling coaching to lower-resource, culturally diverse contexts, including the Global South.