Trudy Ambler

Spectrum Approach to Mentoring: an evidence-based approach to mentoring for academics working in higher education

Anecdotal and empirical evidence indicates that mentoring can be a successful strategy for supporting professional learning, yet limited literature exists on approaches to mentoring designed specifically for academics working in higher education. The aim of this study was to create an approach to mentoring tailored to the needs of academics and underpinned by evidence from the literature. Participatory action research was chosen as the methodology for the project as this enabled a process of inquiry to be embedded within academic practice. The outcome was the development of the Spectrum Approach to Mentoring (SAM). This three-step approach is goal orientated, and encompasses mentoring relationships that may be ongoing and sustained over time through to those that are short-term and aligned with a particular task or focus. SAM provides a suite of resources that can be used by academics to promote valuable opportunities for professional learning through the initiation of mentoring relationships.

The Day-to-Day Work of Primary School Teachers: A Source of Professional Learning.

Teachers are an important influence on students’ learning, and therefore the opportunity for teachers to learn and develop is something of interest to educators internationally. This article reports on a research project involving six primary school teachers who participated in one-on-one and small group interviews to explore the opportunities for professional learning bound up in their daily work in classrooms. The findings highlight that teachers’ day-to-day stories are a source of professional learning. These stories are uniquely contextualised within diverse classrooms and schools. When teachers tell a story they use narrative to capture and structure their experiences, describe the specific details of the teaching situation and explain the reasons behind the actions and decisions taken during practice. What teachers learn from interpreting their narratives is as varied and infinite as the experiences from which they are created. The way the everyday is organised and interpreted by teachers in schools and classrooms is something to which policy-makers and school administrators should be very attentive because it can make a positive difference to both student and teacher learning.

Autobiographical vignettes: a medium for teachers’ professional learning through self-study and reflection

Many teachers use their own work as the basis for research and this can be a complex and confronting task. It demands merging the roles of teacher, researcher and research participant. These roles may not speak with one voice. Some voices are faint, mere echoes; other voices convey a more confident sense of the different roles. This paper draws on a range of autobiographical vignettes that were used to bring together the fractured voices that emerged during an inquiry-focused research project in a primary school. The paper contributes to understandings about the place and practice of using autobiographical writing in teachers’ professional learning and argues that autobiographical vignettes can provide a starting point for enhancing learning by acting as a catalyst for reflection and self-study. Self-knowledge is vital for teachers because it paves the way for shaping and continuing to shape what teachers know about themselves as learners and what they might learn about teaching.

Climates of Communication: Collegiality, Affect, Spaces and Attitudes in Peer Review

This chapter explores communication between university teachers in the context of peer review. Narrative data from in-depth one-on-one interviews and open questionnaires were used by the authors to examine specific experiences that teachers in the study identified as impacting on the quality of peer-to-peer interactions. The findings indicate that collegiality, affect, attitude and spaces are central to the ways in which the teachers communicated with each other to create constructive opportunities for learning. The outcomes from the research are helpful to anyone considering the use of peer review as an approach to enhancing learning and teaching in the University sector.

International Perspectives on Peer Review as Quality Enhancement

Peer review of teaching at higher education institutions can mean many things to different individuals, faculties, universities and governments. In this chapter we cover a broad canvas, drawing upon the expertise of international academics as well as the results of studies at several different universities around the world. The result is an incisive analysis of a range of issues relating to peer review. We begin by exploring the wide varieties of peer review mechanisms and then focus on the central aspect of any peer review method: how to establish trust between the participants. Next we examine the tension between peer reviews for evaluative versus formative purposes, and provide a case study on how that gap can be closed. We follow this with some practical advice on the role of educational developers in helping set up successful peer review programs, and suggestions for areas of training for participants. We close with a proposal that peer review be seen as an important subject for inquiry-based scholarship.