Exploratory action research as workplan : why, what and where from?

In 2012 I was invited to advise on a project originally conceived by Tom Connelly of the British Council Chile. Disappointed by the results of previous, relatively top-down in-service teacher training initiatives, he had gained the approval of the Ministry of Education in Chile to sponsor up to 80 secondary school teachers to engage in a year-long action research experience. He had also appointed four mentors and arranged for all the participants and mentors to come together for a two-day workshop in Santiago in January 2013. My role was to plan the workshop and to provide a suggested outline for the year-long scheme of work.