Rethinking CPD: How coaching as a means of professional development can support staff wellbeing

Claire Pass, Co-Founder And Director, Dragonfly: Impact Education, UK The focus in recent years on improving student wellbeing has subsequently led to increasing attention being given to teacher wellbeing, particularly regarding its significance to pupil wellbeing, pupil attainment, teacher effectiveness and teacher retention. The consideration of the practical implications of teacher wellbeing, while important, carries the danger of reducing teachers to the status of ‘technical practitioners’ (Thoilliez, 2019) – which I will argue constructs them as somewhat two-dimensional beings merely serving a function within the educational machine – and arguably neglects what I will term the ‘human factors’ outlined by Cherkowski and Walker (2018) that provide the foundation for the interpersonal relationships that are so important to learning and professional development (Cherkowski, 2018). Literature from the field of positive leadership and positive education cites professional g