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Teacher education in many countries is under reform with growing differences in its form and function. This is indicative of the ongoing negotiations around the place of theory, research and practice in teachers’ professional learning. However, the demand for mentoring of trainee teachers during often extended and multiple school-based placements is a relative constant. Indeed, with the trend towards greater school-based professional experience mentoring practices become ever more critical. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

This is a conceptual paper written from the perspective of an experienced teacher educator in England, drawing on both practical experience and a body of associated research. It can be conceptualised as related to cases of practice, linked to episodes of practitioner research grounded in the ethics of the improvability of practice, the desire to meet the needs of the professional communities and a deep understanding of the demands and cultures of their workplaces.

Mentoring can be re-imagined as a dynamic hub within a practice development-led model for individual professional learning and institutional growth. Acting on this conceptualisation would allow mentors, trainees and other supporting teacher educators to contribute to the transformation of professional learning practices and educational contexts.

This paper goes beyond offering merely helpful guidance to participants and stakeholders in mentoring, or stipulating standards to be achieved, to considering what might be described as a hopeful or transformational stance in relation to mentoring. Teacher educators can continue to bring value to the transformation of teacher education through a focus on mentoring as an educative process.

Taguchi defines quality in a negative manner as “the loss imparted to society from the time the product is shipped”. Explains the concept and the approach to quality improvement that arises. This approach involves statistical process control and can be daunting but the paper stresses and makes clear the underlying conceptual framework of a methodology for quality improvement and process robustness.

This chapter aims to shed light on some aspects of instructional collaboration with the purpose of providing further understanding of how teachers collaborate and what hinders their collaboration in Saudi inclusive and mainstream schools. Instructional collaboration among teachers in Saudi educational settings has not been thoroughly reviewed, nor has it been adequately considered as an essential component in assuring the implementation of inclusive education. The voice of two special education teachers and two college professors are presented and discussed in order to explain and clarify aspects of instructional collaboration. The last part of the chapter delineates proposed changes that may motivate teachers and aid them in developing a clear understanding of how to practice instructional collaboration in inclusive and mainstream settings, namely, provision of professional development for special and general education teachers, endorsement of legislation and regulations to promote instructional collaboration, and development of teacher education programs.

Research is starting to suggest the value of professional learning networks (PLN) in terms of supporting educators in their practice. But further research is needed into how teachers’ on-going learning and practice development can be supported by features unique to a PLN. To fill that gap, the research described in this chapter examined the ways in which opportunities and supports for educators embedded within a unique multi-layered PLN enhanced and strengthened their knowledge and practice. Across one-year of a longitudinal project, we gathered multiple forms of evidence to trace 18 teachers’ experiences. Findings reported in this chapter identified conditions in the PLN overall that were combining to support teachers’ inquiry-oriented learning and practice. In addition, the authors conducted an in-depth analysis of one teacher’s experiences. The detailed analyses of this embedded case further uncovered how supports at different “grain sizes” (i.e., across the year; out-of-class activities; reflections in/on practice) were combining to foster shifts in her practice and transformative learning over time. The authors conclude with implications for conceptualizing how a multi-layered PLN can be structured to support teachers’ professional learning and practice development.

The research examines how contextual coaching (Gorrell and Hoover, 2009; Valentine, 2019) can act as a lever to build collaborative professionalism (Hargreaves and O'Connor, 2018) and lead to school improvement.

The multi-case study (Stake, 2013) draws on two bespoke examples of contextual coaching in education and uses the ten tenets of collaborative professionalism as a conceptual framework for its abductive analysis. Data from both cases were collected through interviews, focus groups and documentation.

The findings demonstrate that effective contextual coaching leads to conditions underpinning school improvement. Specifically, there are patterns of alignment with the ten tenets of collaborative professionalism. Whereas contextual coaching is found on four of these tenets (mutual dialogue, joint work, collective responsibility and collaborative inquiry), in more mature coaching programmes, three others (collective autonomy, initiative and efficacy) emerge. There is also evidence that opportunities exist for contextual coaching to be further aligned with the remaining three tenets. The study offers insight into how school improvement can be realized by the development of staff capacity for teacher leadership through contextual coaching.

The impact of coaching in education is enhanced by recognizing the importance of context and the value of iterative design and co-construction.

The principles of contextual coaching are generalizable, but models must be developed to be bespoke and to align with each setting. Collaborative professionalism offers a useful framework to better design and implement contextual coaching programmes.

The research introduces contextual coaching in education, and how coaching can enhance collaborative professionalism in schools.

Coaching for teachers has evolved as a form of professional development. The benefits of such interventions have been examined with regard to student, teacher and school outcomes, but the purpose of this paper is to present an investigation relating to the benefits of instructional coaching (Knight, 2006) to teachers as perceived by the teachers themselves.

The study utilises a subjectivist approach with a constructivist paradigmatic stance (Morgan and Burrell, 1985). Eleven semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted (King, 2019) with teachers at a secondary (high) school in the UK. The data were interpreted and analysed using thematic analysis (Braun and Clark, 2006).

The research suggests the following four benefits to the teachers who participated in the study, which aligned well with the literature review: improved relationships, awareness, reflectiveness and enhanced practice. A fifth perceived benefit reported by the participants was positive attitude, which captured a sense of increased confidence, motivation and positivity.

Findings were based on the self-reported data of a small sample. Therefore it is not possible to generalise the findings but Thematic Analysis was used to understand perceptions and insights in a wider context (Ritchie and Lewis, 2003). This research builds on the literature focusing on perceived benefits to teachers. Findings generally support current theoretical understanding. The results of this exploration of the teacher perception of benefits of instructional coaching in one UK school contributes to the emerging literature about the benefits of coaching. The teacher perceived benefit of positive attitude does not appear to be identified in the literature.

In practice, this study raised awareness of the possible benefits of coaching to educators. The authors recommend that educators, policymakers and educational leaders should further explore the potential benefits of coaching in education settings. Utilising teacher perception, the study further confirms coaching to be a useful way of supporting educators to enhance their practice.

This paper fulfils an identified need to gain a better understanding of teacher-perceived benefits of coaching. This understanding will support school leaders and policymakers who may be considering how to best leverage coaching in educational settings.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to extend existing knowledge on the nature, reach, causes and consequences of judgementoring; second, to present a new framework for mentoring beginner teachers that has the potential to forestall and combat judgementoring, and enable the full potential of institution-based mentoring to be realised.

The paper draws on a thematic analysis of: previously published findings from three empirical studies undertaken between 2003 and 2015; new data from two empirical studies undertaken between 2012 and 2016; and recent literature (2013-2016) on judgementoring.

The paper provides further evidence of the nature, reach, causes and consequences of judgementoring as a national and international phenomenon. In doing so, it extends previous knowledge about the conditions that enhance or detract from the successful enactment of beginner teacher mentoring.

The findings presented have implications for the work of education policymakers, school and college leaders, mentor trainers, mentors and others concerned with enhancing mentorship and effectively supporting the professional learning, development and well-being of beginning teachers.

The paper presents ONSIDE Mentoring as an original, research-informed framework for mentoring beginner teachers. The framework may also be applicable to other contexts, especially for the mentoring of early career professionals.

Professional learning has been highlighted as critical to improvement in educational practice for Autistic learners. Empirical evidence about what is effective for professional learning in education suggests it is a “bottom-up” process of intellectual, practical and emotional engagement and application of new knowledge to specific contexts. The purpose of this study was to gather information about postgraduate professional learning that sought to combine lived experience with reflection on practice in a critical pedagogy approach for practitioners working with Autistic learners in post-16 education.

Participants in the study represented all further education (FE) colleges in Wales and included experienced teachers and leaders, most of whom have a role focused on inclusion and learning support within their setting. Two phases of data collection were carried out, namely, a baseline survey (n = 36) and follow-up interviews (n = 15) at the end of the year of study. Interviews explored personal experiences of learning, knowledge and beliefs about practice and change in this respect and professionals’ priorities for the development of practice.

Findings present information gathered from the interviews and indicate that the course did not provide practitioners with new knowledge about autism but supported the development of more nuanced understandings of autism and more professional confidence about practice. However, familiarisation with lived experience and critical reflection on practice were described as supporting the questioning of basic assumptions and greater appreciation of the nature of difference for Autistic learners.

Study findings reframe what should be considered the focus of support practices for Autistic learners in FE.

This paper describes the novel approach taken in a collaborative research project that aimed to investigate new ways of understanding the customer, for Derby‐based fibre manufacturer, Tencel Limited. The overall aim of the research described in this paper, was to help identify and establish a significant retail programme with a major UK store group for Tencel limited.

In an iterative process, the target customer for the focus groups was identified, the main aims of the process were discussed, the test garments were identified and the empathic design tools were adapted. The team developed a programme of activities that would capture customer focused information on these critical issues.

Using the Grove techniques helped to make the project transparent and inclusive, and enabled the whole team to be involved in the decision‐making process. Using these techniques have provided Tencel with a non‐scientific way of understanding how their end customer perceives their fibre, providing unequivocal evidence of the customer true feelings recorded as “raw” video based evidence.

The Tencel/IF project has also led to a number of additional advantages for the company, such as the development of new relationships within the supply chain, the development of new relationships within Tencel and the enhancement of multi‐disciplinary team working and concurrent engineering.

This paper has presented the novel approach that the combined Tencel/IF team took to develop a better understanding of the end customer and illustrates how techniques which were developed for one industry can be successfully adapted and applied to a quite different industry with excellent results.