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Peer coaching

Peer coaching can provide a structured approach to providing additional support.

Continuing professional development (CPD)

Benefits of peer coaching

This resource explains the benefits for:

  • leaders
  • managers
  • supervisors
  • practice educators

Social support is essential for maintaining health and can also protect people from the adverse effects of stressful and emotionally demanding work. Peer coaching offers a structured mechanism for this support, enhancing coping skills and helping achieve specific goals.

Peer coaching involves a partnership between two individuals of equal status, facilitating the sharing of ideas, skill development, and overall support.  

Implementing a peer coaching initiative in your organisation offers a structured, solution-focused approach to providing support. Evaluations of peer coaching initiatives in various settings highlight many benefits including help with retention and academic success (read Koke in the references).

Other research shows that peer coaching can improve skills in goal setting, enhance reflective abilities and increase resilience (read Grant in the references).  

Research also shows that peer coaching can also help protect mental health during periods of high stress (read Goodwyn in the references).

By being a peer coach, social workers cultivate essential interpersonal skills such as active listening, empathy, and trust-building. This can potentially enhance relationships with people accessing services.  

Peer coaching supports early career practitioners’ professional development and can help managers improve emotional literacy and leadership skills. 

References

Goodwyn, N., Beech, N., Garvey, B., Gold, J., Gulliford, R., Auty, T., Sajjadi, A., Arrigoni, A., Mahtab, N., Jones, S., & Beech, S. (2022). Flying high: Pilot peer coaching to champion well-being and mitigate hazardous attitudes. European Journal of Training and Development. (ahead-of-print).

Kinman, G., & Grant, L. (2022). Using peer coaching to enhance individual and organisational resilience: Talking toolkit.

Grant, L., & Kinman, G. (2012). Enhancing well-being in social work students: Building resilience in the next generation. Social Work Education, 31(5), 605-621.

Grant, L., & Kinman, G. (2014). Developing resilience for social work practice. Macmillan.

Koke, A. M., Burke Leon, M., Guest-Scott, A., Carter, G. M., Clapper, L., & Ancil, G. S. (2022). Learning the whole story: How undergraduate peer coaches help with retention and academic success. Journal of College Reading and Learning, 52(3), 212-226.

Short, E., Kinman, G., & Baker, S. (2020). Evaluating the impact of a peer coaching intervention on well-being. In Coaching Researched: A Psychological Reader. Wiley.

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The resources have been developed by Research in Practice in collaboration with DfE.
Published: 27 February 2025
Last updated: 27 February 2025