Improving teachers' research engagement: Case studies of three school research coordinators

Schools today are increasingly expected to orchestrate improvement efforts from within, rather than simply adopting pre-packaged change programs. Over the decades, government in Shanghai has funded large numbers of school-initiated research projects. As a result, many schools have applied, conducted or completed research projects at different levels of scale and focus. Many schools have created a new mid-level leadership post - Research Coordinator - to help provide support and incentives that foster research and its take-up in practice. This article reports on interview data collected from research coordinators at three high schools in Shanghai. The study explored the role played by these mid-level leaders in improving teachers' research engagement, and converting research knowledge into practice. The study also examined the factors that shaped the role perception and role enactment of these research coordinators. Copyright © 2016 Australian Council for Educational Leaders.