Pathways to Partnership: Cultivating Educator Agency and Self-Efficacy for Indigenous Student Well-Being

Indigenous communities have taught their children to be in good relations with themselves, their land, and their people. These goals may diverge from the U.S. public education system, where teachers must meet Western-based state standards. To address this, an innovative professional development (PD) and coaching program called Pathways to Partnership (P2P) was developed for teachers to support their social-emotional learning (SEL). Five teachers received school-based virtual coaching. Thematic analysis of transcripts of the coaching sessions and post-coaching interviews revealed two primary themes highlighting their experiences: 1) Coaching fostered educators’ self-efficacy in supporting students’ positive behavior; and 2) Coaching enhanced educators’ personal agency in supporting Indigenous students. Implications for transformative SEL and school-based coaching are discussed.