Mentoring Teacher-Research: From Situated Practice to ‘Global’ Guidance

Abstract

This chapter presents a pioneering framework and provides practical guidance for those interested in mentoring teachers to research their own practice, based on the author’s experience facilitating teacher-research in Latin America and South Asia. Emphasizing issues specific to teacher-research mentoring, the chapter considers advice for: Introducing teacher-research; Planning a research timeline and communications; Record-keeping, reflection, and mentor-research; Helping teachers to select a topic and develop research questions; Guiding teachers to generate, analyse and interpret data; Supporting teachers to plan and evaluate change; Helping teachers to share and reflect on their research; and Maintaining teacher-researchers’ motivation.The chapter concludes with implications, and reflections on whether the insights offered can be seen as ‘globally’ relevant, given that they emerged originally from situated work in particular contexts