The aim of this paper is to explore the role that researchers play in the professional development of teachers who are participants in research studies. In particular, we report on a study of a cohort of beginning secondary science and mathematics teachers who participated over three years in a study of their transition into a teaching career. Although expectations were demanding, most were enthusiastic participants who persisted in the project despite the stresses of the early career experience. Our research question was “What motivated these teachers to voluntarily participate in a research project during what is generally considered a stressful period of transition?”

Attracting and retaining high quality teachers is of international concern. Although initially highly motivated the attrition of beginning teachers in many jurisdictions approaches 50% in the first three years of teaching (e.g., OECD, 2005). Early career teachers confront considerable challenges in transitioning from a beginner to competent practitioner. Many years of research into the experiences of beginning teachers (e.g., Charters, 1956; Veenman, 1984; Feiman-Nemser, 2003; Ingersoll & Strong, 2011) have highlighted the importance of school culture and support programs. Such support programs can be distinguished in terms of formality and intention (Knight, Tait, & Yorke, 2006). For example, formal professional development programs adopt a structured approach with the clear intention of providing new learning experiences for teachers. Alternatively, through informal mentoring approaches, unintentional learning occurs when individual teachers reflect on and trial new ideas in their classroom supported by colleagues or, as we suggest, external mentors including researchers (Diezmann, et al., 2007).
In this study, we focus on change as adaptation and adopt Clarke and Hollingsworth’s (2002) Interconnected Model of Professional development as a theoretical framework. Clarke and Hollingsworth argued that professional development involved a change process mediated through opportunities for teachers to enact and reflect on strategies. They proposed six perspectives of change of which we focus on one, “change as adaptation”. Change as adaptation in the case of beginning teachers represents the transition from student teacher to teacher practitioner. The Interconnected Model suggests that change occurs through the mediating processes of ‘‘reflection’’ and “enactment” in four domains: the personal, the practical; consequence and external. They argue that the social setting can constrain or afford particular practices associated with learning and thereby constrain or afford the learning itself. Thus, the context in which the beginning teacher finds him or herself will impact their transition from graduate or novice teacher to proficient teacher (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL),2014).), which is change as adaptation. Our particular interest was the informal mentoring that we provided through our focus on analysing practices. As researchers impacting the beginning teacher’s experience, we are potential mediators of learning situated in the external domain. The external domain incorporates the processes and purposes of the research project and the intellectual capital that the researchers brought to the teachers’ classrooms. We contend that the external domain impacted teachers’ willingness to explore new ideas in the personal, practical and consequential domains. Our purpose in the research study was to explore how mature-age beginning career-change teachers capitalised on the knowledge they brought from their previous professions. The unintended outcomes were the benefits that we brought to the teachers in facilitating their transition from novice to proficient practitioner. The study highlights the benefits that can accrue from partnerships between schools and researcher. In times where schools are often reluctant to collaborate with researchers, this study provides evidence of the immediate benefits.

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