"Coffee with the Coach": A Well-being Space for Teachers

Emotions profoundly impact the learning process and the general well-being of all stakeholders in the current educational landscape. However, many teachers need more training and support to effectively manage their emotions, which obstructs their ability to guide students to do the same successfully. For this reason, an initiative was proposed at the Universidad del Noreste in Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico, to contribute to teachers’ “emotional salary” by creating a space dedicated to collective dialogue, exchange, and reflection in warm and welcoming moments of experience sharing to resolve questions and concerns and find support in various aspects of teaching. This article shares this experience.

“I love going to Coffee with the Coach. I clear my agenda because what is discussed there is too valuable to miss.”

Unfortunately, university professors, mainly those of Generation X and Millennials, did not receive initial or ongoing training in emotional education. During their formation, the topics focused on developing skills for peaceful coexistence, conflict management and resolution, and resilience. However, these topics emphasized interactions with the student body. Essential concepts about emotional intelligence were addressed superficially, so teachers had to review their comprehension of this topic independently. According to Bisquerra (2017), teachers are the first to need emotional education training to develop these competencies in students. Their lack highlights the need for educational institutions to adopt a comprehensive approach that addresses students’ and teachers’ emotional needs.

Caring for teachers’ emotional health

The 2020 pandemic health crisis was a critical time for emotional education. It made evident the need for educational institutions to include the study and analysis of emotional intelligence concepts in teachers’ training and student curricula. A watershed in our institution was the launch of the podcast project in 2022, which aimed to support the teachers in our community and let them reflect on and identify their educational challenges as a group. The episode entitled “Teacher mental health” was the most consulted and had the highest number of views, clearly evidencing teachers’ needs in the community.

According to a study by Doan, Steiner, and Pandey (2024) of RAND Education and Labor, teaching is considered one of today’s most stressful professions. The report lists the three main factors that make teaching a stressful job: 1) managing or dealing with student behavior, 2) low salaries that are not commensurate with their responsibilities, and 3) the excessive burden of administrative work beyond teaching that teachers must perform. The diverse situations that usually arise complicate the accompaniment of teachers in upper secondary and higher educational levels.

Nevertheless, the teachers’ participation is vital to the student’s learning process. Moreover, the attention and development of emotional education for comprehensive well-being are as essential for teachers as students. Fostering emotional intelligence and nurturing emotional well-being has become integral to holistic education.

The figure of the academic coach and its impact on teaching performance

At the Universidad del Noreste, in Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico, the figure of the academic coach establishes the necessary dialogues among teachers to provide close accompaniment and guarantee the correct implementation of the institution’s educational model. When teachers are valued and recognized, they feel increased motivation and commitment to their tasks and the university’s mission. The improved work environment and classrooms foster healthy interpersonal relationships, reduce conflicts, and contribute to an ideal environment for carrying out the learning process.

The academic coaches team at our university comprises eight women with different backgrounds: a systems engineer, a psychologist, two accountants, a graphic designer, a language graduate, a pedagogue, and a chemist. All have postgraduate studies, updating in teaching, and training in educational coaching.

The diversity of the team members allows us to bring strengths such as multidisciplinary, diverse perspectives, and the ability to translate data into actions. This diversity of perspectives enhances collaborative solutions and accurately reflects educational reality. Challenges in teaching are inherently multidimensional, so our team of multidisciplinary coaches is prepared to address them.

In 2023, the academic coaches team identified teachers’ training needs using a consultation instrument that gathered 227 responses to items exploring academic aspects such as planning, evaluation, and educational technologies. However, the results pointed to the imperative of addressing topics related to teachers’ stress management and approaching complex problems like teachers’ frustration with the new generations’ learning difficulties, concern about students’ learning progress, and boredom deriving from their lack of motivation and disinterest, which affects their performance.

Promoting emotional well-being among teachers produces multiple benefits for them and the institution. It also translates into increased productivity and creativity in their daily work because, feeling motivated, they are more willing to give their best. In addition, such an environment reduces stress and absenteeism, creating a space where teachers feel accompanied and supported.

“Coffee with the Coach” Session Dynamics

The Coffee with the Coach project began in August 2023 to promote teachers’ mental health. We address current issues related to emotional education and teachers’ concerns about complex topics such as young people’s addiction to social media and its consequences, how to improve attention and concentration in the classroom, happy classrooms, and emotional intelligence for teachers, among other topics. All this occurs in a quiet space offering delicious coffee.

The dynamics of each Coffee with the Coach session occur in a monthly face-to-face meeting, where active undergraduate and high school teachers accept an invitation to participate voluntarily. Attendees are greeted with coffee and light snacks to enhance the warm environment corresponding to the invitation. The sessions have been hosted by 12 to 27 teachers in a room with a capacity of 40 persons. For the meeting, we play with the spaces, arranging desks and chairs to invite sharing in small groups close to one another, generating a relaxed atmosphere of trust and openness for discussion. The Teacher Development Coordinator leads the session, alternating participation with other coaches present, generally at least four at each Café.

Coffee with the Coach has allowed teachers to take a refreshing break from their work, sit with peers to reflect on current issues, exchange ideas and impressions about the situations and emotions they generate, and find the best way to manage them. To date, ten sessions have taken place over ten months. The team of coaches has observed that the teachers feel cared for and satisfied by this space for academic coexistence, as indicated by the following comments:

“Sometimes, just knowing we are not the only ones perceiving this or that helps a lot.”

“I see this type of meeting as a success. This one, in particular, gave me new knowledge, tools for the classroom, and motivation to apply what I learned in the classroom.”

“I consider these meetings very constructive because they allow us to improve our academic performance.”

Through this initiative, Universidad del Noreste has fostered a more supportive and nurturing educational environment that benefits faculty and students. Actions like this contribute to the teacher’s “emotional salary,” as it is a learning and development opportunity to improve teaching knowledge and skills, feel part of a support team, and experience positive relationships with colleagues.

Reflection

Caring for teachers’ mental health contributes to a positive school culture, improves staff retention, and ultimately results in students’ academic and personal success. In addition, teachers’ emotional stability allows them to better manage daily challenges, such as diversity in the classroom and administrative demands, reducing the risk of professional burnout. Investing in teachers’ emotional well-being is, therefore, an investment in the future of the entire educational community.

However, despite the good results of the Coffee with the Coach and the sessions increasing the average attendance, we recognize that the scope could be more varied compared with the numbers of the entire institutional staff. Therefore, to generate more impact from each session, we release a Coffee Capsule consisting of a short three-to-five-minute video summarizing each session. These capsules are disseminated to the entire educational community through institutional means and the teachers’ portal. Each session is assessed with an instrument that measures its impact on the attendees, so in the future, we plan to share the research work.

About the Authors

María Amparo Rostro Segura (arostro@une.edu.mx) is an Educational Coach, Chemist, and Parasitologist Bacteriologist from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León. She has a master’s degree in Higher Education Teaching from the Universidad del Noreste.

Luisa Fernanda Gutiérrez Garza (lfgutierrez@une.edu.mx) is an Educational Coach with a degree in Graphic Design from the Autonomous University of Tamaulipas and a master’s degree in educational Innovation from the Universidad del Noreste.

References

Bisquerra A., R., & Hernández P., S. (2017). Positive psychology, emotional education, and the happy classrooms program. Psychologist Papers, 38(1), 58-65. https://www.redalyc.org/journal/778/77849972006/html

Doan, S., Steiner, E. D., & Pandey, R. (2024a, June 18). Teacher Well-Being and Intentions to Leave in 2024: Findings from the 2024 State of the American Teacher Survey. Retrieved from https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1108-12.html

Gumbau G., J. (2023) Emotional salary and the effect on the staff. Management project. Universitat Jaume. https://repositori.uji.es/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10234/204647/TFM_2023_GumbauJ.pdf?seq uence=1&isAllowed=y

Miranda Robles, T., & Sandoval Santoyo, J. G. (2024). Teacher well-being: its relationship with emotions, human development, and work environment. National Pedagogical University Zacatecas Unit.

Rodríguez-Morales, E. (2023). Socio-emotional education for human flourishing. International Journal of Emotional Education and Well-being, 3(2), 9–13. https://doi.org/10.48102/rieeb.2023.3.2.63

Editing

Edited by Rubí Román (rubi.roman@tec.mx) – Editor of the Edu bits articles and producer of The Observatory webinars- “Learning that inspires” – Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education at Tec de Monterrey.