After retiring from competition, Barkell began a coaching career in Barrie, Ontario, at the Mariposa School of Skating, where he was the director of pair skating. His former students include:
Jeffrey Buttle (2008 World champion and 2006 Olympic bronze medalist).[1]
Gabrielle Daleman (2018 Canadian Champion, 2017 World bronze medalist and 2017 Four Continents silver medalist).[5] He became her head coach in April 2015.[6]
In the summer of 2019, Barkell moved to the Granite Club with Daleman. He also continued as a coach for Gogolev, who relocated to California with Rafael Arutyunyan as his primary coach.[10] In September 2019, it was announced that he would be coaching four-time Japanese national champion Satoko Miyahara.[11] In January 2020, he began coaching World bronze medalist Vincent Zhou.[12] In June 2020, Barkell joined the coaching team of American national ladies' champion Alysa Liu.[13]