ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Teacher Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1595274
This article is part of the Research TopicInteractions and Intersections in Education: Challenges and Trends to foster Learning and WellbeingView all 18 articles
Perceptual Distance in Coaching Beginning Teachers: A Dyadic Study of Coaches' Basic Psychological Need Support and Coachees' Need Satisfaction
Provisionally accepted
- University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
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Self-Determination Theory (SDT) has been widely applied in coaching to support coachees' Basic Psychological Needs (BPNs). However, there is a notable lack of dyadic studies that examine these BPNs in the context of coaching beginning teachers, although discrepancies often exist between the perceptions of coaches and coachees (i.e., beginning teachers). Therefore, we aimed to investigate this perceptual distance and its association with coachees' BPN satisfaction. In a sample of 72 dyads, we found that ~ 31% of coaches overreported, ~ 27% underreported, and ~ 42% agreed with coachees on coaches' BPN support. Using polynomial regression and response surface analysis, we found, when perceptions aligned, high agreement with high BPN support optimises coachees' BPN satisfaction. When perceptions diverged, BPN satisfaction was higher when coaches underreported than overreported. These findings underscore the importance of aligning coach-coachee perceptions through self-reflection and communication, while also emphasising the need for future dyadic-level research in education.
Keywords: autonomy, competence, Relatedness, Interpersonal behaviour, coaching alliance
Received: 28 Mar 2025; Accepted: 08 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, De Jonge, Den Hartigh and Van Yperen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hugh Jiliang Liu, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
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