This paper reports on a mixed methods study to investigate early career teachers’ (ECT) engagement with research in classrooms in the UK over a five-year period. The research is set against a current policy backdrop favouring evidence informed teaching and explores research informed teaching in practice. This research examines the types of research conducted, the motivation and challenges. The paper examines the current narrative in the UK to support teaching with evidence informed teaching and how the role of mentoring and critical dialogue can support a more natural research process of finding meaning in learning through evidence. The purpose of this paper is to offer a recommended visual model to encourage ECT and early career research practice and how this can contribute to professional development and personal growth. The research acknowledges the importance of teachers early in their career solving problems in their classroom through conducting ethical research. The research model suggests a potential constructive collaboration and understanding of evidence informed research, (transmissive) determined by the role of the mentor/support during formative years of teaching and research informed (transformative) practice conducted by the teachers. The outcome of this research provides a framework that could potentially ‘reinvigorate’ teaching predicated on practical evidence informed wisdom of experienced teachers and research informed teaching. The model acknowledges the value and confidence of new teachers who have followed an academic university route via a formal qualification grounded in educational theory and teacher research. Practical recommendations are made for the potential to enrich and support school communities with new teachers conducting and working with meaningful research, situated in a personal and professional context, and supported by policy and statutory frameworks in the UK.

Keywords: Early career teachers, research informed practice, evidence informed practice.