As stated by the GTCS: “Practitioner enquiry, as defined by Menter et al (2011), is a ‘finding out’ or an investigation with a rationale and approach that can be explained or defended. The findings can then be shared so it becomes more than reflection or personal enquiry.”
I believe that an enquiring practitioner is someone who is willing to reflect upon their work and the work of others in order to develop their skills and to benefit others. An enquiring practitioner is about being open minded to try new things; being adaptive – understanding that some things might not work and being able to change that from your own knowledge or from the knowledge of someone else and, having the ability to be critical of themselves and their own work as well as the work of others (GTCS). It should also be about life-long learning and the willingness to develop your teaching skills as time goes on. I also believe that an enquiring practitioner is someone who has a desire to increase their knowledge and skills, for example, a lesson may not have gone as planned in the sense that a large proportion of the class has not been able to grasp the topic. An enquiring practitioner may discuss this lesson with other teachers and talk about possible reasons why it didn’t go as planned; the other teachers may be able to help said teacher through their own experiences of a lesson of the same topic and what worked well for them. It’s about not being afraid to admit to things that have not worked so well and welcoming new ways of thinking.
Some benefits of being an enquiring practitioner have been noted on the GTCS website. These include:
- Enable those within the teaching profession to work together to enhance the education system.
- Enable teachers to bring about important alterations in teaching and education and thus greatly increasing the quality of pupils’ learning experiences in a learning environment.
- Influence the progression of schools, colleges, universities and agencies as educational establishments for the educators who work there and for the pupils.
Some other benefits may include:
- Increases learning as more learning happens when working in a team.
- Further development of team working skills.
- Allows questioning which gives access to deeper understanding.
- Improves pupil attainment and achievement.
There can also be negatives to this (some of these are noted on GTCS website):
- Dishonesty – some people may lie about what has worked.
- No open mindedness in the sense that some teachers might not want to change their practices.
- Seeing it as a chore and not something that is worthwhile.
- Not accessing the questioning of its importance to give a deeper understanding.
- Some people might be offended by suggestions of how they can do something differently or improve something and feel as if others are putting them down.
- Not being critical of self.
For me as a student teacher, I believe that this means I should be open to trying new things and open to advice, even right now in my first year of university. I also believe that this means having the ability to recognise that not everything you try will work and to persevere as you will get there in the end. I think it is about working on the advice given to me which will improve my knowledge and skills. It also means recognising that learning never stops and we can all work together in order to improve ourselves. I think this will be especially important when on placement as the teacher is already qualified and they can help and advise you from their own experiences at university and during their teaching career.
From http://www.gtcs.org.uk/professional-update/practitioner-enquiry/practitioner-enquiry.aspx
Here is the link to the practitioner enquiry information on the GTCS website:
Your reflection of what it means to be an enquiring practitioner is excellent. It is clear you have done your research and you have given a distinct description of what enquiry is and why it is important. I think the quote you added was a nice touch as it not only allowed you to give your own idea, but incorporate a professionals idea of what it means to be an enquiring practitioner.
You outlined many positive and negative sides to being an enquiring practitioner, which showed you were professional in your research of the topic.
Your post is well structured and has a flow that is easily understandable to the reader. You cover every point asked of you in detail. I enjoyed the fact that you included benefits of being an enquiring practitioner not only for the teacher themselves, but also for the wider community of the school, such as pupils and other professionals within the environment. This really showed that it is not only personal gain that comes from the process and gives another reason why it is such an important part of being a teacher.
One thing which I would suggest for your future posts is that you are aware of your longer sentences. At some points I found myself re-reading a long sentence because I lost the idea of what you were getting across. Perhaps at times you may wish to split a sentence into two to make it easier on the reader.
Your content was fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post. It outlined things that I missed in my own reflection and can now go on to think about in the future. Well done.
Thank you for your feedback Rachel 🙂 I’ll take your advice into consideration and will work on it for future work.
Thank you again,
Adele
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This is a really well written piece, and it is obvious that you have spent a lot of time researching the topic. It is handy to have the link to the website too for anyone who wants to research into this topic further.
You have clearly stated the benefits and disadvantages of practitioner enquiry, and it is laid out in an easy to read and easy to understand fashion.
The paragraph about what it means to you as a student teacher I found particularly helpful to read, and it was a nice touch to finish off your blog – the picture also provides information for the reader without you having to explain it in great detail. This is helped by your referencing as any confusion can be sorted out easily.
I think you have written an excellent piece, although a little lengthy for a brief summary ;). I really enjoyed reading it and it has helped me to look at my own piece in a more critical way
Emma
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Thanks Emma! I’ll consider the length next time when I am asked to summarize haha!
Adele
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From reading your post its clear to understand what an enquiring practitioner is as you’ve included lots of different examples and it is structured really well. It is clear you’ve researched this topic very well.
I like that you’ve not only included the benefits and challenges but also included a picture from the GTCS website and the link for people to research more into the topic.
I believe that the way this post is structure e.g – the inclusion of photos and examples which can be related to in the classroom strengthens this post.
To improve this post I would only change the title and keep up the good work, well done! 😀
Thanks for your feedback Kirsten! I shall take your improvements into account 🙂
Adele
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This was a great post Adele. You explained what it means to be an enquiring practitioner well and used some good examples to further illustrate your point.
I particularly liked how you used the term ‘life long learning’ as I didn’t even think of this in my own post! However, whilst reading your post I realized that it is so important for teachers to remember that they should be learning and developing as well- not just the pupils!
The only thing I would do to improve this post is make it a little less detailed as it was a bit lengthy.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks for your feedback Laura! I’m definitely going to work on the length of some of my future posts.
Adele
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This is a fantastic piece of work which has met the success criteria of the task. You have clearly researched this topic and put a lot of work into presenting your findings, I think the addition of the pictures has emphasised your work. You show a vast knowledge of what it means to be an enquiring practitioner and I like how you used examples to back this up.
You have clearly stated the benefits and challenges of becoming an enquiring practitioner and have set this out clearly for the reader. You have shown a clear understanding of these benefits and challenges which enhances your writing.
I really enjoyed how you have made this personal to you and have related it to being a student teacher explaining how this will help you on your placement but also through your time at university.
The only suggestions I have is perhaps to make some of your longer sentences into two shorter sentences as this will help the reader to stay engaged and to add a reference for your quotation.
Thank you for the feedback Jade 🙂 x
First of all I love your use of language throughout this post! I really aspire to use a wide vocabulary however it’s something I struggle with and reading this post it intrigued me and captured my attention!
I enjoyed the fact you included the benefits from the GTCS website but then followed on to give some of your own benefits. I also like how you link back to the GTCS website, it shows that you have read it and are reflecting upon it and your clear understanding of it is shining through from this post!
I’m sorry to disappoint but I can’t think of any development points from this post…
I loved the quotations at the beginning and I loved how you split up the sections, including links to the GTCS website, your own personal views, bold font to highlight the important titles and a photo and the end to conclude! I enjoy reading your posts and find them very interesting!
Thank you for your feedback Sarah! In all honesty I didn’t think I had that wide range of vocabulary – thanks to highlighting it I am filled with a little more confidence! I have also done what you asked me too, haha!
Adele
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