COS Classroom is a comprehensive online professional development course that delivers strategies to support secure relationships in early childhood care and learning settings. By offering educators a new lens, the focus shifts from managing difficult behavior in search of compliance to relationship-building that promotes well-being. Educators learn to apply Circle of Security strategies to daily classroom interactions, challenging behaviors, and transitions.

Educators complete COS Classroom for foundational understanding, then connect with trained COS Classroom Coaches for ongoing support applying concepts with specific children and classroom challenges.

Key components of the COS Classroom course include:

• Classroom-Focused Video Examples: Video footage captured specifically in educational settings that directly relates to educator-student interactions
• Individual Learning Pathways: Personalized progress tracking with individual access to course materials including a course workbook and handouts, completion certificates, and continuing education credit
• Flexible Learning Format: Content is delivered on-demand with an individual login for each educator. Teachers can engage with the course during prep time, with small professional learning teams, or on whole-staff professional development days. Each educator accesses their own account for completion, even when learning together as a group.
• Direct Educational Context: All scenarios, examples, and applications speak specifically to classroom and early care setting relationships with educators and young children (ages 4 months to 6 years)
• Integrated Coaching Access: Clear pathways connect educators to endorsed COS Classroom Coaches for ongoing implementation support

COS Classroom represents a meaningful shift from training educators about attachment concepts to giving them immediately applicable tools for strengthening the relationships that form the foundation of all classroom learning.

Learn more about COS Classroom

COS Classroom is designed for educators rather than parents, which means there is no need to translate parenting practices to the classroom. We have also removed the structural barriers that prevented many schools from implementing Circle of Security concepts, including scheduling conflicts, substitute coverage costs, staff turnover challenges, and the need for specialized facilitators.

For years, we heard consistent feedback about the obstacles schools and centers faced with traditional training models. Centers struggled to release entire teaching teams simultaneously, substitute coverage costs were mounting, and staff turnover meant constantly starting over with new cohorts. The timeline pressures of school years meant that by the time new training was organized, valuable implementation opportunities had already passed.

The new on-demand, individual-access model allows teachers to engage with content during professional development days, work at their own pace, and join the learning journey regardless of when they start their position. This flexibility reduces costs while increasing accessibility for schools of all sizes and resource levels.

COS Classroom delivers classroom-specific content directly to educators through individual logins, enhanced video examples from actual classroom settings, six months of direct access, and integrated pathways to ongoing coaching support. Unlike previous models that required facilitator interpretation from the COS Parenting program to the classroom, teachers now receive Circle of Security content designed specifically for their daily experiences with students.

Key innovations include:

• Enhanced Classroom Video Content: New footage captured specifically in educational settings, including classroom adaptations of the Still Face Experiment that directly relate to teacher-student dynamics
• Individual Learning Pathways: Each teacher has their own login to access the course for six months and can progress through content individually or in groups as their schedule allows
• Direct Educational Focus: Content speaks specifically to classroom relationships rather than requiring translation from parenting contexts
• Flexible Delivery Formats: Centers can choose whether teachers work individually, in small groups, or as whole teams depending on their needs and organizational context
• Integrated Coaching Access: Clear pathways to ongoing implementation support through endorsed COS Classroom Coaches

We want to honor the important work facilitators have done in their communities. That work has mattered. At the same time, we've learned that direct educator access removes a significant bottleneck: training facilitators to then train teachers meant Circle of Security concepts could take months to reach the people working with children every day. This streamlined approach reduces costs, removes scheduling barriers, and ensures teachers receive content designed specifically for their professional context.

Our previous model created what we came to recognize as an unnecessary barrier to implementation. Schools had to first identify and train facilitators, coordinate their schedules with teaching staff, arrange coverage for classroom time, and ask facilitators to translate concepts from parenting contexts to educational settings. This multi-step process often took months to organize.

With direct access to content, a school or center can have all teachers engaging with Circle of Security concepts within days rather than months. Content is immediately relevant to classroom dynamics, and teachers can access learning on-demand in real time rather than waiting for scheduled training sessions.

Current facilitators trained in the previous classroom model and anyone interested in bringing Circle of Security to educational settings will transition to the new COS Classroom structure. The professional role in this model shifts from facilitation to coaching, creating clearer pathways for both initial educator learning and ongoing implementation support.

For Current COSP Classroom Facilitators (trained as of December 2025):

• May continue current COSP Classroom Facilitator work
• Special transition pricing and support to attend COS Classroom Coach Training in 2026
• Additional discount toward COS Classroom Coach Training available through 2026
• Coach training discount expires in 2027

For Current COS Classroom Coaches:

• Free access to COS Classroom to explore the new content (offer expires January 2027)
• Coaching support to promote fidelity of coaching with educators and to access enhanced classroom-specific tools and examples
• Opportunity to join an online community of coaches around the world, learning from each other's practice
• Opportunities to work with teachers globally who have individually accessed the course and need coaching support applying the learning

Trained COSP Classroom Facilitators (as of December 2025) can continue their existing work. COSI no longer trains new professionals to facilitate COS Parenting with educators. Professionals seeking to support educators in the classroom can now go directly into COS Classroom Coach Training.

Timeline for transition:

• January 2026: COSP Classroom Facilitator course closed to new registrants
• February 2026: COS Classroom launched for educators
• 2026 to 2027: COS Classroom Coach Training launches
• April 2026 and beyond: COSI focuses on professional development for educators and training COS Classroom Coaches to support implementation in the classroom

This timeline allows current facilitators to continue their valuable work while providing ample opportunity to transition to the coaching model. We believe this approach will ultimately serve educators and children more effectively, and we're committed to supporting everyone through the change.

Classroom coaching provides the essential bridge between understanding attachment concepts and implementing them effectively in specific classroom relationships. Research consistently shows that coaching is necessary for sustained behavior change in professional settings. COS Classroom content provides the foundation; coaching offers the individualized support needed for real-world application.

Traditional training models often leave educators wondering how to apply general concepts to specific, challenging relationships. Coaching shifts the focus from learning strategies to change children's behavior to understanding what happens in the relationship between teacher and child that makes connection difficult.

Our coaching approach helps teachers identify their own relationship struggles, what COS calls Shark Music: those moments when specific children trigger stress responses that interfere with providing the connection those children most need. Through reflective coaching conversations, educators work together with their COS Classroom Coach to develop individualized Action Plans that move relationships toward greater security.

Unlike typical educational coaching that focuses on behavior management techniques, COS Classroom Coaching emphasizes:

• Relationship-Focused Problem-Solving: Understanding what makes specific teacher-child relationships challenging rather than just addressing behaviors
• Reflective Practice: Helping teachers recognize their own responses and develop awareness of relationship dynamics
• Individualized Support: Working with teachers on their actual classroom situations rather than generic strategies
• Ongoing Coaching: Sustained support for applying concepts consistently over time

COS Classroom Coach Training is a hybrid course open to professionals from mental health, education, and early childhood development backgrounds. No prior completion of COS Classroom Foundations is required before enrolling: the COS Classroom Foundations Course (coach's edition) is included as part of the training.

Upon completion, coaches are endorsed for two years and listed on the COSI registry. Endorsement is maintained through a minimum of two coaching support sessions annually. The training awards 4.0 IACET CEUs (40 clock hours).

COS Classroom Coach Training is the pathway for anyone who wants to support educators in building secure, relationship-centered classrooms, and to sustain that work over time.