Mentoring teachers to research their practice
This is the website for MenTRnet – an international network / community of practice of mentors of teacher-research in the field of English language teaching for speakers of other languages.
We are an active international community of over 250 mentors dedicated to supporting English language teachers to research their practice. Whether you’re actively engaged in mentoring teacher-research or simply curious about the process, MenTRnet offers a collaborative space for sharing insights, resources, and good practice. We run regular events, including an annual conference, and an online support group. Anyone involved or just interested in mentoring teachers to research their classrooms can, with no fee, join this community of practice by clicking on the button top right here. Alternatively, to just receve news of our public activities, you can join our Facebook group.
Latest Updates
School improvement through mentoring EAR
This blog post focuses on the experiences of the authors as they mentored teacher-researchers for school improvement.
Integrating teacher-research into pre-service teacher education (Festival event)
22 February 2025: a panel discussion event featuring Melba Libia Cárdenas, Elyanora Menglieva, Fauzia Shamim, Richard Smith, Pia Tabali, and…
Mentoring teacher-research in a Teacher Association community of practice
This blog is based on a presentation given in the International Festival of Mentoring Teacher-Research on 14th September 2024, where…
Mentoring Stories
Stories of Mentoring Teacher-Research Click on the cover image to download this collection, co-edited by Richard Smith, Seden Eraldemir Tuyan,…
A celebration of MenTRnet / Launching two publications! (Festival event)
Two online books published with IATEFL Research SIG will be launched officially – Stories of Mentoring Teacher-Research and Teachers Research! 2024, a new collection of conference abstracts and video-recorded presentations.
Japanese Translation of ‘A Handbook for Exploratory Action Research’
We are pleased to announce the completion of the Japanese translation of A Handbook for Exploratory Action Research by Richard…
What We Do
The group was originally set up by Richard Smith in August 2019 in association with an open Facebook group (which all are also welcome to join), to support dissemination of the book Mentoring Teachers to Research Their Classrooms (2000, British Council). Since then, the network’s activities have expanded, with support from an ESRC/University of Warwick grant in 2020–2022 and a further grant in 2024–2027 (see History). First named ‘MenTRnet’ in February 2024, the network – with a 15-person strong committee – nowadays supports organization of:
(1) a free 5-week series of workshops on mentoring teacher-research in April–May, followed by a series of workshops for teachers in September–October;
(2) monthly support group meetings for those involved in mentoring teachers to research their teaching;
(3) a Teachers Research! Online conference for teachers to showcase their work, as well as an associated online event for their mentors to reflect on and share research about mentoring experiences.
During 2024–25, MenTRnet is also organizing:
(4) an International Festival of Mentoring Teacher-Research, with a series of monthly webinars by members and other invited speakers.
