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Practitioner enquiry tip of the week: doing enquiry when you're not class based. I've tweeted about how to engage in enquiry before you head into the classroom, but what about if you're no longer in the classroom and are a school leader or supporting other teachers' learning? /1
Firstly, this is not a barrier to enquiry. You might not be connecting your questions so immediately to CYP's outcomes, but your 'class' becomes the teachers you are working with or the school community more widely. The rest of my advice around enquiry process then stands /2
I reiterate enquiry can be literature based - engaging with research rather than in (doing) research. So an enquiry exploring that thing you want to implement across the school, what others have done, said about it, the evidence base, is always useful in making case for change /3
If you want to engage in research, your 'class' might become the staffroom. I have not met a senior leadership team, for example, who wouldn't benefit from an enquiry into how to make staff meetings more impactful or how to improve the dialogue during inservice days /4
If you're turning your attention to the school community, asking questions like how to make parent meetings more useful/engaging might be appropriate. I am sure you've lots of potentials. Involving the parent forum might be appropriate in providing another perspective /5
If you are mentoring a probationer or student teacher, then being open about the questions that you have as a teacher and as a mentor might be a useful way to open up coaching dialogue. Undertaking an enquiry alongside a mentee to share the experience opens up productive space /6
Ethics are of course important in this type of enquiry (as it is when exploring CYP's learning). Be as transparent as possible, don't ask anyone to do anything you're not prepared to do and don't ask for stuff that takes up too much time. Make it useful. Explain your rationale /7
It's a powerful leadership style admitting you have questions and by being open about this you're being an enquiry role model. Being explicit that learning doesn't stop at a certain point in a teacher's career, but keeps going: you'll never have all the answers and that's OK /8
