Building bridges for teachers as researchers

Abstract

There has been little exploration of how Research Leads build bridges and manage networks to encourage teachers to be researchers. As a middle leader on a teaching timetable, in this article, I focus on some of the current issues and dilemmas I have personally faced when trying to thrive in this role. I address these issues and draw on my own experience as evidence to support possible solutions in being a middle leader. Some of the challenges faced in this role are encouraging teachers to become researchers, motivating teachers to engage in research, making research relatable to teachers and using reflective practice to develop researching practitioners. Further to this, I explore how using a bottom-up strategy can work with senior leaders through to classroom teachers; even though this can be a difficult process, this strategy is constantly evolving with the aim to create a research-informed community. In all, this article takes a personal perspective and reflects personal experiences in being a Research Lead and a teacher-researcher. It aims to provide some strategies in managing the challenges of being a middle leader, not in the traditional sense but as a networker, community builder and teacher-researcher.