The aim of this research was to use an appreciattive inquiry approach (Seligman, 2004) to investigate how mentors influenced changes in teachers' practices.

In this Ministry of Education funded project in 47 secondary schools in New Zealand, subject-specific mentors supported teachers to identify the needs of 4-5- priority learners, implement their professional goals in relation to their students’ needs and to link changes in practice to students’ outcomes. The research was designed to address the question, "what makes mentoring successful and how did mentors influence the development of teachers’ practice?"  It occurred at the end of the third year of the secondary student achievement project as part of a consortium approach to Professional learning and development. The consortium was made up of the New Zeaand Ministry of Education, two universities and te Tapuae o Rehua (NgaTahu).

An appreciative inquiry research framework was used because we wanted to delve deeper into what made mentoring of professional learning successful, both for the secondary teachers and for students’ learning progress. We purposively sought and analysed positive in-depth descriptions from both mentors and teachers of the influence mentors had on changes to teaching and consequent student learning outcomes. The ‘accentuation of the positive’ characteristic of appreciative inquiry aligns well with a strengths-focused orientation as part of the positive psychology movement, which has a growing influence in research and practice across the human service sectors, (Seligman, 2004).

The focus of teaching as inquiry is usually on any inconsistencies between what is intended and what actually occurs (Timperley, 2011). However in the model of teaching as inquiry that we used, teachers started with observation of their 4-5 priority students’ needs and then derived their own actions with the support of a mentor to try to address these needs. Focusing on priority learners has been shown to be a way to manage teaching as inquiry (Conner, 2015). Further, the Ministry funded subject specific mentor PLD supported schools to share changes in practice and link these to changes in students’ outcomes.

Since 2012, the mentors have provided specific, concrete and practical ideas that relate directly to the needs of students to advance their learning in specific subjects, similar to what has been reported more generally about mentoring by Guskey, (2002) and Timperley, Wilson, Barrar, and Fung, (2008). One of the fundamental aims of the contract is to accelerate outcomes for priority learners.These priority learners include Māori and Pasifika learners, learners with special education needs and those from low socio-economic backgrounds.

This paper provides examples of how mentors guided and challengesd teachers to link changes in their practice (through participating in cycles of teaching and inquiry), to changes in students’ outcomes, which has rarely been reported previously. Gathering vignettes of change and using student achievement data as tools for inquiry, provoked teachers to be more aware of the importance of critical reflection on pedagogical development. We provide an overall analysis and vignette examples to illustrate each emerging theme.

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