Empowering Educators: Exploring the Impact of Coaching on Mid-Career High School Teachers' Wellbeing and Professional Growth

Abstract

The impetus behind the research was the recent industrial action by teachers, in both the United Kingdom (UK) and New Zealand (NZ), who were seeking better working conditions and an increase in pay, throwing teaching into the spotlight once again. The high attrition rates within the profession are well documented. We are in a time of crisis in education and the support offered to teachers has never been more crucial. UNESCO (2020). My teaching career spans 24 years, and the way in which teachers are supported to ride the waves of change and challenge has remained the same as when I attended teacher training college. The first two years of a newly qualified teacher journey in the UK and New Zealand are usually filled with mentor support, collegiality and governing body accountability followed by a void that can easily be filled with self-doubt, long hours, stress and pressure. I hope to offer a central location for some of the most influential research on coaching in education. I aspire to offer a springboard for future action research from a firm foundation of there being a clear argument for the benefits of coaching for mid-career high school teachers. The study behind this report focused on interviewing six teachers, two located in Auckland New Zealand and three teaching in the South of England. The sixth participant in the interview stage had been coached within the last two years as part of their professional growth. All teachers are classroom practitioners in the state system whose student age ranges from 10 to 18 years.

Keywords

• continuing professional development
• continual professional development
• coaching for teachers