To be an enquiring practitioner is to ‘find out or investigate with a rationale approach that can be explained or defended’, as defined by Menter et al (2011). In other words, being an enquiring practitioner is performing the continual act of research and reflection in order to positively impact a pupil’s academic experience.

It’s my understanding that enquiring practice is an act performed by professionals, either individually or collaboratively, where time is set aside to analyse the systems in current use and see if there is any room for development. It’s easy to get ‘stuck in your ways’ both in a professional and a personal sense. But through performing constant critical reflection we create opportunities to identify areas of work that are in need of improving.

This- a continual attempt to progress forward- is an obvious benefit to being an enquiring practitioner. However there are, of course, challenges that come with it too. For example, there is always the potential for difficulties to arise when performing collaborative work; misunderstandings between group members, lack of motivation, differences in learning styles etc.

As a student teacher, I understand that being an enquiring practitioner is going to be an integral part of my new profession. I hope that being aware of its meaning and the benefits of integrating it into my day-to-day professional practice will allow me to fully participate and make the most of the skills that come along with it.