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Practitioner enquiry tip of the week: how enquiry shouldn't be extra (as prompted by @Lindabell15). My mantra is that if enquiry is taking up your Sunday afternoons, and you are not happy about it, then you are doing too much, scale it back. Sundays are for so much more /1
But why does practitioner enquiry become extra in so many people's heads? A big chunk of this is how and where it is introduced and shared, unconnected to classroom practice, outside of school time, maybe even outside of the school grounds. It's disconnected. /2
Second is the link to research and perceptions of 'proper' (whatever that means). This leads to time consuming data collection techniques, designing questionnaires at the weekend, doing interviews in lunch hours etc., unconnected and not pedagogically appropriate /3
Third is desire for leaders to exert control, dictate enquiry questions. This means enquiry doesn't target the teacher's perceived needs in classroom and is ultimately less likely to be useful for their own or classes' learning. If its not owned by the teacher, it feels extra /4
It's about mindset (not Dweck type), but rather seeing enquiry as fundamental to 9-3.15 teaching and learning. The questions should be yours and target learner outcomes (in broadest sense). It has to be useful. It should be connected to other aspects of your role /5
The model of research should be flexible and creative, sensitive to your professional and pedagogic understanding of the context. Schools are data rich and so use data already connected or that can blend with normal teaching and learning, before doing something new/ extra /6
Leaders, trust your staff. Resist urge to make decisions for them. Model your own enquiry (about making practitioner enquiry doable?). Be creative about connecting school agendas and individual teacher's priorities. Listen to topics staff choose, use this to inform school plan /7
Be kind to yourself. Teachers are ambitious, esp. about improving CYP outcomes, but we can't take over the world in one step. See potential for connections, build on current practice, make sure it is USEFUL. And if you're doing enquiry on a Sunday afternoon you know what to do /8
