Mentoring and coaching in education practitioners’ professional learning

Purpose – Mentoring and coaching are key strategies employed in workplace learning and are perceived as effective ways to provide learner support. However, there is a paucity of evidence of how research outcomes may have influenced these practices and to what extent they have benefited those involved in this process. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that research on mentoring and coaching can in fact result in beneficial impacts on education professionals’ learning and development. Design/methodology/approach – The paper critically reflects on the process of developing an impact case study submitted to the UK Research Excellence Framework 2014. It seeks to make explicit the close relationship that exists between research and professional practice and how evidence of any resulting impact of research on user communities can be identified, collected and verified. Findings – In describing the process of developing such an impact case study the article focuses on three key aspects: identifying a sui...