- Tūhono home Hoki ki Tūhono
-
- Staff Directory
- Chief Executive Office Auckland International Office Corporate Services Finance Campus Services Functions and Catering Information Systems and Support Marketing, Communications and Engagement Learner Journey Academic Registry International Learner Services Te Punaka Ōwheo
- Learner Experience Academic Excellence Central Campus College of Community Development and Personal Wellbeing College of Engineering, Construction and Living Sciences College of Health College of Work Based Learning Open Education Resource/OERu Research and Postgraduate Studies Te Maru Pumanawa | College of Creative Practice and Enterprise
- Māori Development and Kaitohutohu Office People, Culture & Safety People and Culture Childcare Centre Te Ama Ako | Learning and Teaching Development Wellbeing and Safety Auckland Staff Directory Executive Office Academic Corporate Services Marketing and Business Development Human Resources Campus Quality and Programme Development
-
Our people make a better world
We build the capabilities of individuals, organisations and communities and help them to realise their potential.
Staff Directory
-
- Tools
- Academic Integrity Declaration Form AIC applications dashboard Approved programmes Approved programme fees Centralised assessement repository Chemwatch Course evaluation and surveys CRM applications CRM customer service hub DataHub Delegations policy/process Disability and neurodiversity Dynamics 365 (CRM) EBS Ontrack EBS Report Email security personal portal Employment Matters / Solarworkplace / Performance reviews eTaxi eTV
- Financial variance reporting Hidden Disabilities Sunflower programme FCM travel intranet InPlace International entry requirements Knowledgebase articles Learner support dashboards Linkedin Learning Log a job with Marketing Login as an applicant Media consent form Microsoft 365 Moderation App Moodle OP Docs OP Docs - Publishing OP Image Libraries Performance Excellence Portal Pocket Lab (student healthcare) Product Evaluation Panel
- Policy Library Privacy Programme and course design/development Qualtrics XM RDS Remote access support portal Research Database Robertson Library Staff FAQs about graduation Status of Programmes Student intranet (Kāpehu) Study Abroad info for learners Taha Talks (videos for students) Tūhauora I Wellbeing resources Uniprint Vault Webexpenses Auckland tools
-
Vault
Had an accident or near miss?
Log it here
-
- Communities
- Community AI Steering Committee Ally Network EBS Community of Interest EdTech Champions Health & Wellbeing Research Internal Evaluation Neurodiversity Professional Team Professoriate Proud@OP Student Support Website Advisory Group Web Champions Working under the Rainbow Project Learner Capability Trade Training Centre
- Committee Academic Committee Animals@OP Diversity and Equity Doctor of Professional Practice Committee Kaunihera Whakahaere - Leadership Council Internal Evaluation Learning & Teaching Leadership Team Library Committee Mental Health and Wellbeing Advisory Group Otago Polytechnic Board of Directors Pastoral Care Code Committee Programme Approvals Committee Research and Postgraduate Committee Research Ethics Committee Staff Subcommittee
- Pou Think Tanks Mātauraka Our learners achieve educational success Pūtea Our financial success Tākata Our people, our team, our community Tiriti Our active commitment as a Treaty partner Tūroa Our commitment to be a sustainable and responsive organisation
-
Create a community
Do you have a community, committee or project that you'd like represented here?
Communities
-
- About OP
- Keep up to date All news All events All notices All blogs Share your info Create a news article Create an event Create a notice Create a blog
- Community and Partnerships Alumni and friends Education Foundation Operational information Academic calendar 2026 Academic calendar 2027 Current vacancies Dunedin campus map Our policies Topical FAQs
- Who we are About Te Kāhui Manukura (TKM) Commemorative sites Māori Strategic Framework OP merchandise Our Council Our history Our strategic priorities Pasifika Action Plan Pasifika Strategic Framework (2025-2030) Vision and values Working for us OP job opportunities Wellbeing calendar Working at OP
-
New Zealand: 0800 762 786
contact us
International: +64 3 477 3014
NLP in Education: Enhancing Teacher Wellbeing and Professional Practice
Author: Alexis Williams
Supervisors: Glenys Forsyth
12 February 2026
Williams, A. (2025). NLP in education: Enhancing teacher wellbeing and professional practice [Master's thesis, Otago Polytechnic]. Research Bank. https://doi.org/10.34074/thes.7195
Abstract
Teacher wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand continues to be strained by workload intensification, emotional labour, and systemic instability. While structural change remains essential, teachers also require a combination of practical tools and reflective frameworks that support emotional regulation, values alignment, identity clarity, relational responsiveness, and professional sustainability within complex and often unstable systems. Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) has a growing presence in practitioner-led coaching and wellbeing sectors internationally; however, its potential to support teacher sustainability in education remains under-examined and under-theorised. This qualitative study investigates how NLP strategies can support teacher wellbeing and professional practice. Semi-structured interviews with eight IANLP-certified educators were integrated with researcher autoethnography and reflective practitioner analysis. The methodology followed a pragmatic, social-constructivist paradigm using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) reflexive thematic analysis. Ethical considerations, reflexivity, and cultural responsiveness — particularly in relation to Māori values — were embedded across the design. Positionality shaped interpretation, acknowledging the influence of practitioner identity and lived experience on meaning-making.
Four key themes emerged. First, participants described NLP as enhancing pedagogical practice and wellbeing through practical strategies such as rapport-building, reframing, anchoring, presuppositions, language awareness, and well-formed outcomes. These tools supported emotional flexibility, intention-setting, confidence, and clearer communication. Participants reported that well-formed outcomes clarified direction, reduced stress, sustained motivation, and strengthened values alignment in both planning and decision-making. Language-based tools, including Meta Model questioning and attention to internal dialogue, were experienced as mechanisms for challenging limiting narratives and increasing professional confidence. Second, participants described NLP as supporting the “inner work” of teaching. They used NLP to regulate emotional states, connect with personal values, and shift from reactive to empowered mindsets. NLP practices helped participants make intentional choices, align actions with identity, and maintain self-awareness in complex contexts. Participants also identified the limits of resilience, noting that while NLP offered stabilising tools, systemic pressures could still overwhelm individual strategies. Third, participants reported that NLP became more than a set of techniques. Over time, it functioned as a reflective framework that shaped how they approached relationships, conflict, problem-solving, and identity. NLP principles supported flexibility, curiosity, and responsibility, contributing to an ongoing sense of agency and purpose within their roles. Fourth, participants identified important challenges. These included systemic resistance, credibility concerns, ethical ambiguity, and a lingering reputation of NLP as pseudoscientific, all of which shaped how participants navigated professional alignment. Additionally, drawing from my own practitioner lens, I identified meaningful structural resonances between NLP presuppositions and relational Māori values proposing a preliminary model of how the two frameworks correlate.
This study contributes to teacher wellbeing research, practitioner-led inquiry, identity formation, values-based pedagogy, and culturally responsive frameworks for professional development. It offers a practice-informed framework that integrates NLP tools with identity work, emotional regulation, reflective inquiry, clarity of purpose, and relational pedagogy. While NLP provided stabilising mechanisms for navigating the emotional complexity of teaching, participants emphasised that such tools cannot replace the need for wider systemic change. Instead, this research positions NLP as a flexible, ethically grounded support that can strengthen teacher wellbeing while coexisting with ongoing calls for structural reform in education.
Keywords
neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), teacher wellbeing, identity, agency, practitioner enquiry, reflective practice
Licence
A copy of the thesis is publicly available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
This licence applies except where otherwise indicated, especially for images.