Leading Learning through Practitioner Enquiry

The Leading Learning Through Practitioner Enquiry programme in Scottish Borders is targeted at experienced class teachers committed to improving their own practice and willing to work collaboratively with others to bring about change and improve children’s learning. It is intended for staff not yet aspiring to formal leadership roles but ready to work with others in their department/faculty or whole school to undertake an investigation or enquiry as a means of advancing their professional learning.

The programme is founded on the revised Professional Standards for Career-long Professional learning and takes inspiration from a core text Professional Capital (Hargreaves and Fullan, 2012). Our intention is to support participants to make the connections between research, policy and practice over the course of a school session and to recognise how their reading of substantive literature and current policy links with their enquiry findings and, ultimately to apply their new knowledge with increasing confidence. Participants are also expected to access additional sources (policy and research) related to the focus of their enquiry.

Programme aims:

To promote career-long professional learning by:

• raising awareness of current issues and the interconnectedness of research, policy and practice
• supporting practitioner enquiry;
• developing critical reflection on theories, principles and practice;
• encouraging sustainable practice through leading and collaborating with others in the enquiry;
• delivering improvements likely to benefit a defined group of learners.

Programme Outcomes – Enhanced capability and desire to:

1. Demonstrate a critical understanding of a range of principles, ideas and theories, in both education policy documents and relevant literature.
2. Critically review an aspect of practice and develop a proposal for collaborative enquiry, outlining the scope and intended impact of the study.
3. Use new learning to lead and work with others in carrying out collaborative and planned enquiry.
4. Interpret evidence gathered, and evaluate the impact of the enquiry.
5. Interpret and communicate the findings of the enquiry in different and appropriate ways according to the needs of a range of audiences.

Programme Structure

The programme spans, for the most part, a school session: from September – June. There are seven face-to-face ‘taught’ sessions (two afternoons and five twilight sessions) plus two Action Learning Sets (ALS) also (twilights). The formal taught sessions include slide presentations, guest ‘witness’ input, discussions and workshop activities but although these are tutor-led, sessions are very much interactive and based around collaborative working. The two ALS sessions further emphasise the potential to benefit from collaborative working as is the norm with ALS format, the focus for discussion is chosen collaboratively within each smaller group.

In preparation for each taught session, participants undertake prescribed reading and activities (such as self-evaluation, reflection, journaling), and begin to identify their own enquiry focus as well as any professional literature likely to be relevant. They meet with others in their own department/faculty, school or cluster map strengths and development needs against the Revised Professional Standards, and agree on a possible focus for collaborative enquiry. From January to March participants will oversee the implementation of the group plan, working with colleagues to maintain their professional reading and ensure possible evidence of impact is gathered along the way. In April, the group is expected to reflect on the combination of evidence gathered and together draw conclusions about the impact. The findings from the collaborative enquiry will then form the basis of a presentation to be shared with other LLPE course participants at the May meeting and in a written report for a wider audience by the middle of June.

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