Secondary Teachers' Experiences of Emotion Coaching

Emotion Coaching training delivered to UK schools and educational psychology services aims to provide a technique of interacting with individuals at times of heightened emotion (Gilbert et al., 2021). Research has explored its use in several settings (Gilbert et al., 2018) and found benefits to developing emotional regulation in young people and positive outcomes for the well-being of practitioners. There is limited research exploring Emotion Coaching as an embedded approach within mainstream secondary settings from the perspective of the teachers. Using a relativist, social constructionist paradigm (Moon & Blackman, 2014), I explored four participant's (one current teacher and three previous teachers) experiences of implementing Emotion Coaching in their mainstream secondary schools. I used The Listening Guide (Gilligan & Eddy, 2021, Tolman & Head, 2021) to analyse data from the four 1:1 narrative interviews (McAdams, 1997). The Listening Guide allowed for in-depth analysis of the participants’ stories, including reflections of their Emotion Coaching journey. There were intertwined plot-lines which contributed insights into the research questions and these are explored in the discussion. Participant stories highlighted the journeys needed to embed Emotion Coaching in their setting. They shared ideas of its flexibility but also talked about the difficulties of fitting Emotion Coaching in as an intervention. Their stories offer insights into what experiences are like for staff taking on Emotion Coaching as a new approach and add a new perspective to the support Educational Psychologists might need to consider. The limitations and implications were considered in relation to the implementation of Emotion Coaching approaches within mainstream secondary settings.