Currently, the Educational Psychology Service are involved in supporting practitioner enquiry in a variety of areas including:

• Autism Advisors
• Literacy Strategy Group
• Numeracy Strategy Group
• Play 2 Learn
• Talking Mats

Practitioner enquiry is about investigating a question, within your practice or context, using a formalised process. It is any form of evaluation which includes the following steps:

• identify an issue to be addressed
• look at other resources and/or research literature to identify possible reasons and solutions
• identify and implement a strategy to attempt to improve the issue
• evaluate the changes made.

For Teachers and Education staff, research and practitioner enquiry is a key part of Professional Review and Development. Practitioner enquiry supports self-evaluation for improvement planning in East Dunbartonshire schools and centres which in turn is driven by the key priorities in the National Improvement Framework:

• Improving attainment and achievement
• Closing the attainment gaps
• Improving children and young people’s health and wellbeing
• Improving employability skills and sustained positive school leaver destinations

Useful Links

Practitioner Enquiry in East Dunbartonshire Council Guide: https://education.gov.scot/improvement/Documents/sac76-practitioner-enquiry-guide.pdf

GTCS Website: https://www.gtcs.org.uk/professional-update/research-and-practitioner-enquiry/research-and-practitioner-enquiry.aspx