Conference and Study Day

Research Mentoring and Coaching

Conference and Study Day

Saturday 29th September 2007

10. 00 am – 3.30 pm

Milton Keynes Holiday Inn,
Saxon Gate West, Academy Conference Centre

Sponsored by the Collaborative Action Research Network and

BERA Practitioner Researcher and BERA Mentoring and Coaching SiGs

Attendance is free. Restaurant lunch and refreshments included

Please complete and return this form to

Registration Form

Programme for the Day

Themes:

1) What research mentoring support do teachers currently receive?

2) What research mentoring support do teachers find most useful?

3) What research mentoring support would teachers like to receive?

4) How does multimedia with mentoring support teachers' research?

(For discussion join )

09.30 Arrival and Refreshments

10.00 Sarah Fletcher - Introduction to the Day and our 4 themes.

10.15Colin Isham – ‘Harnessing knowledge to practice: Accessing and using evidence from research’

11.00 Short break

11.15 Nicola Scarrott – ‘Working in Partnership with the Teacher Learning Academy’.

12.00 Sarah Fletcher - workshop – ‘Using KEEP Toolkit templates’

12.30 Lunch in the Milton Keynes Holiday Inn Restaurant

13.00 Pam Sutliff – ‘’Coaching and mentoring at Sharnbrook’

13.30 Rosalind Rice - 'The Knowledge of the Mentor: the influences of theory and practice'

14.00 Short break

14.15 Geraldine Mooney Simmie - Mentoring for Learning in the
Republic of Ireland - a school-university partnership.

14.45 Sue Attard – ‘A reflexive study at Lark Rise School’

15.15 Plenary and summary of the Day

15.30 Conference ends … continuing our learning

Notes about our presenters:

Sarah Fletcher was a schoolteacher for over twenty years. Between 1994-2004 she was a lecturer at the University of Bath and 2006-6 a lecturer at Bath Spa University. Her research focus is educational research mentoring using web-based technologies. You can learn about her work and publications at

She is currently convenor for BERA’s Mentoring and Coaching Special Interest Group.

Colin Isham works for CUREE (Centre for the Use of research and Evidence in Education) where he currently coordinates a fourth EPPI Centre Review of Continuing Professional Development, which will be published later this year. He supported teachers in preparing for the National Teacher Research Panel conference in 2006.

Nicola Scarrott works as an Advisor in partnership between the General Teaching Council’s Teacher Learning Academy and Birmingham Local Authority. The TLA has been developed in partnership with teachers, schools, local authorities, universities and a growing number of national partners. Details at

Geraldine Mooney Simmie is a lecturer in Education and Professional Studies at the University of Limerick. She coordinates a programme for educational mentoring. Her recent paper ‘Teacher Design Teams: building capacity for innovation, learning and curriculum implementation’ has just been published in ‘Irish Educational Studies’.

Pam Sutcliff is a teacher at Sharnbrook Upper, which is a Training School in North Bedfordshire with 1800 students. The school has recently worked with Beds LA to establish a strategic approach to the National Strategy for Mentoring and Coaching. With the introduction of the Performance Management scheme reviewers will be trained in coaching skills.

Rosalind Rice is a research student at the University of Nottingham. She researches the role of adult learning theories in mentoring and assists in running our BERA SIG. She co-wrote a publication for BERA entitled The Potential of the Poster Presentation and is working towards the completion of her PhD. Rosalind is a regular presenter of her research into mentoring at BERA conferences.

Sue Attard is head teacher at Lark Rise Lower School in Dunstable in Bedfordshire. She is studying for a PhD and researching how she influences her school’s culture. She contributed to ‘Leading Coaching in Schools; coaching for personalisation and well being’ published by the NCSL. She asks, ‘How do we know we are having an impact on our school?’ and has been using video to explore her influence in action.