Developing a practitioner enquiry approach to School University Research Partnership

In 1904, Dewey first discussed the importance of teachers engaging in pedagogic enquiry to fully engage with processes and outcomes in their classrooms. Since then the concept has been in and out of fashion and more or less tied up with the concept of the research engaged practitioner. Emerging practice in Scotland is therefore a useful case to explore as the new National Model of Professional Learning has ‘learning by enquiring’ as one of three main strands of professional learning (Education Scotland, 2019). The dominant approach from this policy draws on the work of Cochran-Smith and Lytle (2009) with ‘inquiry as stance’ being a common phrase, whereby inquiry becomes part of a teacher’s professional identity with every aspect of professional practice and the curriculum as a whole becoming potential subjects for inquiry and professional scrutiny. However, Wall (2018) noted that this epistemological tradition of practitioner enquiry is contrasted with practices that are often more ‘project based’ whereby teachers are focused on issues of method and data in relatively isolated enquiries. This means research engagement tends to be a one off and have more in common with a traditional research project than what Stenhouse (1981) proposed.