Secondary

Using a supportive mentoring to aid important action research

Aim: The primary aim of this project was to provide a supportive, pro-active and practical mentoring partnership in which individual teachers could conduct their independent action research. The results were actually far more significant than the original aim suggested and extended beyond the boundaries of the action research itself. Research mentoring led to tangible and long-term benefits both for our personal development and our professional development as teachers.

School Improvement: Developing and sustaining professional dialogue about teaching and learning

Aim: Our aim was to follow up six secondary schools that had been involved in the North East School Based Research Consortium (NESBRC), a collaborative partnership funded by the Teacher Training Agency/CfBT, which focused on generating evidence about teaching and learning and the impact on pupils achievements. The original partnership intended to develop approaches that were effective and could be embedded into the culture of the school after the NESBRC funding finished. We wanted to see what the schools were doing three years later.

Reservoirs of Hope as a metaphor for spiritual and moral leadership in headship, and why some headteachers leave headship early 'when reservoirs run dry'

Aim: The study aimed to: Describe the perceived spiritual and moral bases of headship in a range of heads; Explore the use of the metaphor of reservoirs of hope in describing the preservation of individual values and institutional self-belief against external pressures; Promote practitioner reflection on critical incidents when spiritual and moral leadership was tested; Codify heads individual strategies for sustainability, replenishment and development; and Analyse why some headteachers leave headship early due to the possible failure of their sustainability strategies when reservoirs of hope