Rushton, Elizabeth; Walkington, Helen; (2022) Mentoring school student research as an approach to geography teacher professional development. In: Artvinli, Eyüp and Gryl, Inga and Lee, Jongwon and Mitchell, Jerry, (eds.) Geography teacher education and professionalization. (pp. 277-290). Springer: Cham, Switzerland.

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Abstract

Opportunities for students to undertake Independent Research Projects (IRPs) whilst at school and as undergraduates have long been recognised as valuable. More recently, the affordances of teachers’ participation in research projects for supporting professional development and teacher identity have been highlighted. Here, we explore the perspectives of 30 high school teachers based in England, Scotland and Norway who mentor student research with a geographical focus. Mentoring high school research enables teachers to further develop: (1) specialist subject knowledge; (2) innovative pedagogical approaches; and (3) build and extend professional networks within and beyond their school setting. This chapter supports previous research which highlights the potential for using Ten Salient Practices to initiate individual teacher reflection and wider professional development, and a way of disseminating effective practice across the school sector (Walkington & Rushton, 2019). Several teachers interviewed as part of this study suggest that engaging in mentoring as an approach to teacher professional development can support teacher recruitment and retention and should be an opportunity made available to all teachers regardless of previous experience in post-graduate research.

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