Educational Research Mentoring

1
Educational Research Mentoring

• Sarah Fletcher
• sjfmentor_at_yahoo.com
• http//www.TeacherResearch.net

2
Educational Research Mentoring

• Why educational?
• What kind of research?
• What kind of mentoring?

3
Educational Research Mentoring

• Enables a growth of knowledge about teaching and
  learning in schools and in universities.
• Bridges between two populations of researchers in
  complementary educational contexts.
• Is distinct from traditional forms of research
  mentoring associated with university contexts.

4
Educational Research Mentoring

• Origins of educational research mentoring
• Purpose in educational research mentoring
• Process in educational research mentoring
• Educational Research Mentoring outcomes

5
Educational Research Mentoring

• Practice to theory

6
Educational Research Mentoring

• Practice to theory

7
Educational Research Mentoring

• Relates to Boyers (1990) Scholarships
• Discovery (research)
• Integration (connectedness of educational
  aspects)
• Application (e.g. to assist individuals and
  institutions)
• Teaching (the highest form of understanding)
• and Generativity

8
Educational Research Mentoring

• Potential benefits
• A democratic relationship between those involved
  in researching.
• Growth of knowledge about teaching an learning by
  teacher, pupil and academic in teaching contexts.
  
• A critical symbiosis of academic and school-based
  knowledge.
• Knowledge created collaboratively is not bound by
  the Disciplines.
• Preconceptions about mentoring and teachers
  research are challenged.

9
Educational Research Mentoring

• Potential benefits
• Schoolteachers and university academics develop
  research informed practice.
• ERM encourages the micro and macro investigation
  of teaching and learning.
• Coupled with technology, ERM has the potential
  for global knowledge growth.
• ERM can be managed face to face and virtually
  synchronously on- or off-line.
• Teachers in school and universities learn how to
  interact through self-studying.

10
Educational Research Mentoring

• Potential problems
• Viability depends on personalities as well as
  experience and motivation.
• As a boundary activity between school and HEIs
  ERM may be rejected.
• ERM can be very labour intensive.
• Different goals in knowledge creation can lead to
  misunderstandings.
• Where HE accreditation is sought, knowledge may
  be gatekeepered.

11
ERM Potential problems

• Teachers research may not be tested, critiqued
  and validated by their peers.
• ERM may nurture woolly ill-defined research
  loosely termed action research
• Knowledge created by teachers may not transfer to
  be of use to academic tutors.
• Technology is sometimes viewed by teachers and
  academics as a bolt on extra - to avoid!

12
ERM Potential problems

• In competitive HE environments teacher research
  is sometimes regarded as low grade.
• Providing adequate opportunities for validation
  of knowledge can be difficult.

13
Recent publications on ERM

• Fletcher, S.J. (2006) Technology-enabled action
  research in mentoring teacher researchers,
  Reflecting Education Journal, Vol. 2 (1) pp.
  50-71
• 2. Fletcher, S. (2005) Sharing Teachers Action
  Research, KEEP Newsletter Carnegie Foundation
  for the Advancement of Teaching (winter 2005)
  Feature Web-Article accessible at
  http//www.cfkeep.org/static/index.html

14
Educational Research Mentoring

• Is there evidence that my contribution to
  educational knowledge has influenced anyone?
  Donna Chipping and Rachele Morses research
  (2006), Appendix 6, suggests there is
• We support the definition offered by Fletcher
  (2000) of research mentoring as creative
  collaboration between teachers as researchers and
  other researchers' where the whole is greater
  than the sum of the parts.

15
Educational Research Mentoring

• Fletcher, S.J. (2006) Technology-enabled action
  research
• in mentoring teacher researchers, Reflecting
  Education
• Journal, Vol. 2 (1) pp. 50-71
• Fletcher, S. (2005) Sharing Teachers Action
  Research,
• KEEP Newsletter Carnegie Foundation for the
• Advancement of Teaching (winter 2005) Feature
  Web-
• Article accessible at http//www.cfkeep.org/static
  /index.html
• Fletcher, S.J. (2005) 'Research Mentoring The
  Missing Link', in Bodone, F.
• What Difference does Research Make and for Whom?
  New York, USA,
• Peter Lang, pp. 177-190