The International Festival of Mentoring Teacher-Research in ELT (2024–25)
Organized by MenTRnet and supported by British Council, Pilgrims Teacher Trainer Journal and IATEFL Research SIG
Free online events and recordings during 2024–25 showcasing teacher-research mentoring initiatives around the world.
The festival’s aim is to map and draw lessons from these initiatives and to inspire others to engage in mentoring teacher-research and/or to organize teacher-research mentoring support schemes themselves. With this new emphasis on mentoring, the festival builds on two previous international festivals showcasing teacher-researchers’ own experiences, in 2017 and 2021, respectively.
Upcoming events
22 February 2025, 1.00–2.30pm (UTC): Panel discussion with Melba Libia Cardenas, Elyanora Menglieva, Fauzia Shamim, Richard Smith, Pia Tabali and Flávia Vieira on ‘Integrating teacher-research into pre-service teacher education’ Register here
29–30 March 2025: Teachers Research! Online 2025 conference. Details to come.
Date and registration details to be confirmed: Webinar on ‘Using AI to help mentor teacher inquiry’.
Previous events
18 January 2025:: ‘A celebration of MenTRnet / Launching two publications!’ – webinar celebrating MenTRnet achievements, including the launch of Stories of Mentoring Teacher-Research and Teachers Research! Online 2024 (both published by IATEFL Research SIG in association with MenTRnet). Video-recording
14 December, 1.00–2.30pm (UTC): (UTC) ‘Mentoring teacher-research as a local educational authority initiative’ – webinar on the SCERT Delhi action research mentoring project, led by Professor Rama Mathew. Video recording.
16 November, 1.00–2.30pm (UTC): ‘Teacher-researchers becoming mentors’ – panel discussion with Regina Corona (Mexico), Patcharin Kunna (Thailand), Maria Marta Mora (Argentina), Sidney Martin (Spain) and Silvia Severino (Argentina), chaired by Richard Smith. Video recording
19 October – 13:00–14:30 UK time – School improvement through mentoring Exploratory Action Research – Webinar showcasing work in the British Council’s Partner Schools programme, led by Sirin Soyoz, Ghazala Sajjad and Fareeha Bashir. Video recording.
14 September – Mentoring teacher-research in a Teacher Association Community of Practice: Experience from Rwanda – Webinar about work within ATER (Association of Teachers of English in Rwanda), led by James Mbonyuburo, Laurent Ahishakiye and Jean Damascène Uwamahoro. Video recording. Associated blog-post. Video-recorded interview for Teacher Trainer Journal
31 August – ‘Mentoring teachers new to research in the Electronic Village Online‘ – Webinar showcasing work by mentors, arising from past Teacher-Research for Professional Development Electronic Village Online (EVO) (EVO) sessions, led by Ruben Mazzei and Mariana Serra. Video recording.
20 July – ‘EAR-Thailand #2024 project – Successful practices in a teacher-research mentoring programme’ – Webinar about work within the EAR-Thailand #2024 project (fomerly, MDEAR (Mentor Development for Exploratory Acton Research) (King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi / British Council Thailand / RELO Thailand / ThaiTESOL). Video recording.
8 June – ‘The work and impact of NETRUZ (Network of English Teacher Researchers In Uzbekistan)’ – webinar led by Elyanora Menglieva and Ella Maksakova. Video-recording and Booklet of Success Stories created for the event.
4 May – IATEFL ReSIG webinar – ‘Challenges in mentoring teacher-research, and how to overcome them’ – showcasing the work of mentors of research at the Teachers Research! Online 2024 conference. Video-recording and full programme with links to posters.
9 April – British Council Teacher Educator Community webinar on ‘Teacher education and practitioner research – how can one support the other?’ by Richard Smith. Video-recording and associated handout.
16 March – ‘Best of EVO’ – TESOL CALL Interest Section – 30-minute presentation about the Mentoring Teacher-Research Electronic Village Online. Video-recording.
9–10 March 2024 – IATEFL ReSIG Teachers Research! Online 2024 conference – launch event for the festival. Video record in preparation
The Festival is chaired by Professor Richard Smith and is being organized with the support of a grant from the University of Warwick and the Economic and Social Research Council (grant reference ES/X004635/1)
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About the Author(s)
Richard Smith is a Professor at the University of Warwick, where he has taught on the MA TESOL programme and supervised PhD students for twenty-five years. He has advised on several teacher-research mentoring projects for the British Council, developing the Exploratory Action Research approach to teacher development and original ideas on how to mentor teacher-researchers in the process. He is former coordinator of the IATEFL Research SIG (2011–2015), originator of the Teachers Research! series of conferences and founder and chair of the International Festivals of (Mentoring) Teacher-Research (2017, 2021, 2024). More information: http://www.warwick.ac.uk/richardcsmith
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