Well-being and sustainability: impact of teacher centred coaching model

Abstract

Purpose The development of educational models that prioritize the well-being and sustainability of educational communities has become increasingly important in recent years. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of teachers’ training in strategies for implementing a multidimensional approach to classroom well-being through the Teacher Centred Coaching Model on well-being in the classroom – teachers and students well-being.

Design/methodology/approach Through a qualitative design, the authors conduct the present study to assess the perceptions of elementary teachers regarding their own competency development and that of their students during a 25-h intervention program. The study involved teachers (n = 8) and their 8–15-year-old students (n = 423). The “Teachers Perception of SWCI Impact on students” questionnaire was used to collect student data, while teacher competency data was obtained through individual interviews entitled “Strategies for Well-being in the Classroom Intervention”.

Findings The analysis of the data showed that teachers believed that improving well-being strategies could benefit the personal development of both themselves and their students. Furthermore, the study revealed a positive impact on the personal and professional well-being of the teachers who participated in the program. After completing the program, students displayed improved abilities in attention and concentration, as well as better personal relationships, organizational skills and emotional regulation. The teachers emphasized that self-awareness and self-regulated learning had a positive influence on their own well-being, as well as on that of the educational community, by promoting empathetic communication, sharing experiences and implementing good practices aimed at enhancing well-being and sustainability.

Research limitations/implications The study involved eight participants, comprising eight females and two males. This number could be seen as a limitation, but in another way, these participants (from all the several regions in Portugal) allow us to reach a level of theoretical saturation of the contents in analysis because they complete all the several moments of training, coaching and implementation of the proposal, and their practices, reflections and actions guarantee the depth of data, as Burmeister and Aitken (2012) and Fusch and Ness (2015) propose.

Practical implications The teachers emphasized that self-awareness and self-regulated learning had a positive influence on their own well-being, as well as on that of the educational community, by promoting empathetic communication, sharing experiences and implementing good practices aimed at enhancing well-being and sustainability.

Social implications After completing the program, students displayed improved abilities in attention and concentration, as well as better personal relationships, organizational skills and emotional regulation.

Originality/value This study adds to both theoretical and practical development of continuing teacher training about social and emotional learning and executive functioning and its possible role in promote the personal development of teachers and students.