T-REX (Teachers’ Research Exchange): Infrastructuring Teacher Researcher Collaboration Through an Open Educational Ecosystem

Supporting teachers to use research, and moreover collaborate in research are key aspirations for modern educational systems globally. As never before, it seems the need for research-led teaching is becoming more pressing. The teacher researcher holds the promise of bridging the problematic gap between practice and theory in classrooms and schools. However, how do we best support teachers to begin to incorporate research into their teaching in a systematic manner, and even encourage them to engage in and share research? Teachers are highly committed and talented, but very busy and pressured professionals. Engaging in research – often not valued outside academe – can seem extraneous to the exigencies of everyday teaching in schools. However, today, there is international evidence of formative collaborations happening, especially through the deployment of bespoke, open educational resources for teacher researchers. This chapter introduces T-REX: The Teachers’ Research Exchange (www.t-rex.ie), a nationally funded initiative aimed at nurturing a teacher researcher community in Ireland. The chapter positions the T-REX OER platform in the context of wider developments and innovations taking place in educational research nationally, and internationally. Accomplishments of the project are highlighted, which include bringing teachers into collaboration with educational research professionals, and augmenting teachers’ use and sharing of research. Concurrently, T-REX promotes and enhances teachers’ research confidence, efficacy and literacy. The chapter concludes with plans for the future of T-REX, as an innovative technology-enhanced OER infrastructure to support teacher researchers, and their interaction and collaboration with the wider professional educational research community.