Generating new insights and practices in professional learning through co-enquiry

Policy makers typically make decisions about how professional learning and development should be designed and supported for those working in education at a generic ‘catch-all’ level.  Inevitably policy makers find it hard to acknowledge the importance of context and cannot know the professional learning attributes and concerns of members of staff at individual levels. As such we need to engage practitioners (teachers and leaders) in findings appropriate ways to enable, empower and develop themselves and their colleagues individually and collectively within and beyond each education setting.

CollectivED Co-Enquiry

Over the last few years (somewhat interrupted by the pandemic) I have been working with a number of schools and trusts to help members of staff to undertake co-enquiry and to co-construct professional development practices.

Each CollectivED Co-Enquiry group consists of up to 15 participants with shared professional development interests and contexts.  This can include colleagues from the same setting or from across a partnership. Participants may have similar or different roles. The expectation is that they are open to learning with and from each other. Co-Enquiries have been facilitated face-to-face, online or using blended approaches. They are typically scheduled for 9-12 hours of group ‘contact’ over 6 to 12 months.  

CollectivED Co-Enquiry is based on: 

• Identifying the professional learning / development focus (this is negotiated with an enquiry convener based in the organisation, but will be refined with the group)
• Co-constructing working methods to support enquiry
• Drawing on the expertise of participants 
• Offering challenge and insight to support reflection and strategic decision-making 
• Making connections with existing knowledge base and networks 
• Agreeing the approach to sharing the professional learning which emerges

No two co-enquiries look the same, because no two cohorts of participants are the same, no two professional contexts are the same, and no two emergent directions of travel and development are the same.  The common characteristic of the co-enquiry is dedicated time to think, to talk, to generate ideas and to pursue activity with purpose.  This is proving valuable and insightful.

Each CollectivED Co-Enquiry group is given an opportunity to co-create a special issue of the CollectivED working papers, and while this is just one option for sharing the outcomes of their work we now have a number of these on the website.  If you are interested in how others sense-make some of the challenges of providing good professional learning opportunities in their contexts you might like to dip into the papers published.  So far there are collections from Wykham Park Academy, Rose Learning Trust and Moor End Academy. 

These are authentic and situated collections.  They are written by teachers and leaders and they provide an excellent way of capturing the contribution that individuals can make to the professional learning opportunities of their colleagues. They take us to the heart of the matter by helping to address the question ‘What can be done to help those working so hard in schools to sustain their own development and continue to meet the needs of learners in their own local context?’.