Sarah Fletcher Educational research mentor

What is Educational Research Mentoring? Educational Research Mentoring or ERM developed from the integration of mentoring as CPPD (Continuing Personal and Professional Development) for teachers (Fletcher, 2000) and Living Educational Theory action research pioneered by Whitehead and McNiff (2004).

Research Mentoring is “… concerned with continuing personal as well as professional development (CPPD) and not just continuing professional development.” Fletcher, S. (2000) “Mentoring in Schools: A Handbook of Good Practice” London, Taylor and Francis

What is Action Research? “…any systematic enquiry conducted by teacher researchers to gather information about how their particular schools operate, how they teach and how well their students learn. Action research is done by teachers for themselves; it is not imposed on them by someone else …” Mills, G. (2003) “Action Research: a Guide for the Teacher Educator”, USA, New Jersey, Pearson Education

Research Mentoring … “…. should unblock the ways to change by building self-confidence, self-esteem and a readiness to act as well as to engage in ongoing constructive interpersonal relationship.” (Fletcher, 2000)

BPRS research mentoring A mentor not a tutor Collaborative enquiry A mentor has responsibilities

What does an educational research mentor do? ‘you draw my knowledge out of me’ ‘you ask a broad question … you pick out the pieces from my answer and work with me on each of those…’ ‘You have discovered how my mind works. I compartmentalise everything.’ ‘You are helping me gather my knowledge into a more coherent form.’

What does a research mentor ask? How do I help you to identify your focus? How do I help you to audit as a starting point? How do I help you map out possibilities for action? How do I help you to collect data in rigorous and systematic ways and synthesise data to evidence? How do I keep you on track with your project? How do I help you to disseminate your research?

What does a research mentor ask? What matters most to you as a creative teacher? How do you teach best and how can you teach even better? In your work as an teacher, what is your main concern? How can you live out your professional values more fully? What can you do to become a more professional teacher by helping colleagues to learn with you and to teach you? How can you help your students to learn in lessons?

Roles and Responsibilities Professional skills and aptitudes Professional values Professional knowledge and understanding Christie et al. (2003) Chartered Teacher Scheme in Scotland, BERA presentation, Edinburgh

Technology in research mentoring Whole group sessions; face to face Individual sessions: face to face Telephone mentoring Video mentoring E-mentoring Collaborative web-page construction: individual and group

Research mentoring is … Generative Teachers Students Academics

Case Studies: Students’ Research Mentoring Hayesfield School, Bath Westwood St Thomas, Salisbury Bishop’s School, Salisbury

Why integrate mentoring in action research? Action research is formulaic when you restrict personal and professional interrelationships. Mentoring helps students, teachers and partners develop creative relationships with one another. Action research can sometimes be a solitary experience but mentoring builds supportive networks for building collaborative creativity. Mentoring students’ and teachers’ skills, values, knowledge and understandings develop. These are the ‘core areas’ for creative engagement.

Using digital photography to evidence claims to know Is becoming a widely accepted technique in school- based enquiry (Fletcher and Whitehead 2003) Web-based templates at are changing perceptions in practitioner research. Embedded web-based Critical Thinking Scaffolds (Fletcher and Coombs, 2005) ensure that practitioner research is sloughing its homespun, rather parochial history and evolving an altogether more professional image in the field of evidence-based practice. (Fletcher, 2005: 23)