Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how peer coaching in action learning meetings stimulates teachers to experience transformational learning through critically reflecting on the perceptions that shape their beliefs about student bullying. Design/methodology/approach The authors used interpretative phenomenological analysis to understand how participating teachers were using peer coaching in the action learning meetings to make sense of their subjective experiences with student bullying. Findings The authors report three themes (power, categories/labels and diversity/differences) explaining the perceptions that guided participants' understanding of student bullying, and for each theme, describe how peer coaching enabled the participants to re-shape their interpretation of experiences with student bullying.
Originality/value The study reveals the potential of peer coaching as a transformational learning tool to support teachers when dealing with student bullying.