Enhancing Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Supported by Coaching in the Content of Open Schooling for Sustainability

Gabriel Gorghiu, Tony Sherborne, Raquel Kowalski (), Laia Vives-Adrián and Silvar Ribeiro
Additional contact information
Gabriel Gorghiu: Teacher Training Department, Valahia University of Târgoviște, 130004 Târgoviște, Romania
Tony Sherborne: Mastery Science UK, London IG8 0XA, UK
Raquel Kowalski: Postgraduate Program in Education, Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Curitiba 80215-901, Brazil
Laia Vives-Adrián: Living Lab for Health, IrsiCaixa Research Institute, Badalona, Catalunya, 08916 Barcelona, Spain
Silvar Ribeiro: Doctoral Program in Dissemination of Knowledge, State University of Bahia, Santo Antônio de Jesus 44571-003, Brazil

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 22, 1-22

Abstract: Developing teacher self-efficacy can be supported through coaching, a process that guides and supports teachers in enhancing their confidence in teaching and learning skills. This study, part of the CONNECT project funded by the European Union and implemented in various countries, investigates how coaching improves teacher performance and self-efficacy within the context of open schooling for sustainability. The coaching process underpinned by the CARE-KNOW-DO framework focused on 45 coaches supporting a total of 790 teachers in the UK, Brazil, Romania, and Spain. A multilanguage digital platform provided resources, guidelines, video, and best practices on open schooling integrated with the Sustainable Development Goals for teachers’ educators and teachers. Through a qualitative study analyzing CARE-KNOW-DO practices in one-on-one dialogue-based strategies, collaborative participatory research, webinars, workshops, and professional development courses, our findings reveal both challenges and catalysts in coaching. Key features of the coaching model that boosted teachers’ self-efficacy included working with mixed-ability classes (UK), overcoming curriculum pressure (Spain), and addressing complex teaching challenges (Romania). Pedagogical changes involved the adoption and co-creation of open schooling materials, along with integrating CARE-KNOW-DO principles and the EU DigComp framework for green digital skills. These insights demonstrate that coaching in open schooling environments for sustainability can significantly enhance teachers’ self-efficacy and the quality of open schooling experiences by increasing teachers’ awareness of challenges, strategies, and outcomes, focusing on meaningful practices, enhancing teaching and learning competencies, and fostering collaborative personal development.

Keywords: teachers’ self-efficacy; open schooling; sustainability; coaching; CARE-KNOW-DO framework; CONNECT project (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/22/10131/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/22/10131/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:22:p:10131-:d:1525232

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().