Category Archives: 1 Prof. Values & Personal Commitment

Practitioner Enquiry: Benefits and Challenges

3 Replies

Being an enquiring practitioner, I realise, is becoming a widely accepted form of being a teacher throughout Scotland and I believe that it is important to be continuously engaging with this. Following our input on Tuesday about being an enquiring practitioner and further reading from the GTCS website, I’d like to share some of my reasons as to why I believe that practitioner enquiry is an excellent thing to adopt within our Scottish schools.

What does it mean to be an enquiring practitioner?

Being an enquiring practitioner means that you are able to continue to use the research skills you have developed to go beyond being reflective of your practise. It means being able to take a stance in which you can think critically about your professional development and the way in which your pupils are learning.

Benefits of practitioner enquiry:

As I read through the Practitioner Enquiry on the GTCS website, I noticed that there were several benefits to taking such a stance.

  1. Enables the chance to make a change to the way in which you continue to develop and make positive changes to the way in which your pupils learn. I believe this is an important benefit of being an enquiring practitioner as it highlights the fact that practitioner enquiry does not only effect you but it will also have an impact on the quality of the pupils’ learning experiences within the school environment. I am a huge believer in providing the best possible education to children and being an enquiring practitioner sets you up to provide just that.
  2. There will be a significant impact on the long-term professional development of a teacher after the research/project has been discontinued. Much of what you will find through your investigations will develop the knowledge, understanding and skills that you have already obtained. Although some research may only be specific to a certain school or environment, the further knowledge you gain can be implemented into another setting. This proves that being an enquiring practitioner is not just a one off thing, it is something that you should continually engage with to become a better professional.
  3. Although there are positive impacts on your own individual development, practitioner enquiry can be included within the development of the school itself. Overall, the benefits highlighted on the GTCS website have an important value upon the wider school improvement agenda. The opportunity to work individually or collaboratively allows you to investigate, question, consider and plan for change and further development of not just yourself but the school.

Challenges of being an enquiring practitioner:

It became evident that although the benefits were greater than the challenges, they were still part of practitioner enquiry.

  1. It can be quite difficult for existing teachers to adjust to the fact that practitioner enquiry is becoming part of the day-to-day practise that they engage in. For myself, it will be easy to enter my professional practise as being an enquiring practitioner has been integrated into the MA (Hons) Education course here at the University of Dundee. But for previous students this may not have been put across as significantly as it does now. Reflection is a key part of being a professional but in order to better your professional development it is essential that you move away from just reflecting. Existing teachers may need to re-visit and develop their research skills again in order to take part in practitioner enquiry.
  2. Many believe that such a process can be “uncomfortable” and may find it daunting therefore may not follow the correct procedures. Practitioner enquiry can be uncomfortable for many people and can lead to a more stressful string of events when trying to engage with their enquiries. This is where expert support may need to be brought in to ensure that they understand the processes and to make it a less stressful time.
  3. People may find it difficult to critically question and think about their practises. Without the right set of skills and expertise it can become quite difficult to critically question your own beliefs, understanding and knowledge to improve yourself.

For me, as a student teacher in this present day, being an enquiring practitioner does not seem as daunting as others may think it is. I believe it is easier for student teachers these days to take on practitioner enquiry as the research skills are fresh and will not be forgotten about. They are a set of skills and techniques that can be continually develop even after your time at university. Despite some of the challenges that I have noted whilst reading, I think that being an enquiring practitioner is a vital part of your professional development and will make a huge but hopefully positive impact upon the learning experiences that your pupils will gain.

An Understanding of My Academic Skills

1 Reply

Getting the Basics

Punctuation has always been part of education for me and probably the majority of people reading this too. Reading ‘The Study Skills Book’ by McMillan K and Weyers, J has really helped me to further my understanding of the importance of punctuation and how it can really effect your writing.

Looking at a University situation, it is extremely important to get punctuation and grammar correct for your writing to make sense, especially with assignments and essays that you will have to complete. I believe that grammar and punctuation is not only important for your studies but also for taking part in your ePortfolio. Although it is, I feel, slightly more relaxed and gives you more freedom to express your thoughts in your own way, it is still relevant to have correct grammar and punctuation.

Vocabulary, I believe, is also an important factor to add to your academic skills. Having a variety in your vocabulary can really benefit you. I admit that vocabulary is probably something I should look at and develop more as my studies continue over the next four years at University.

Having a basic understanding of punctuation, grammar, spelling and vocabulary is extremely important with a profession such as teaching because a lot of their learning is focused around developing their literacy skills. If I have difficulty with spelling or explaining grammar and punctuation, it would make it far more demanding and tough to teach young children as they will get confused and will not develop the right understanding.

It is crucial to have a good knowledge and understanding of the above topics in order to teach children correctly and to make things a lot less demanding within your profession.

Important Factors to Consider

Leave a reply

Engaging With Learning

Cooperative Learning:

Cooperative learning is something that I have always been aware of as it was included from a young age at Primary school. At University there is an expectation for you to take control of your own study and learn things for yourself based on what a lecturer has used in an input. However, this doesn’t always mean that you have to be completely by yourself and I agree that it can sometimes be easier to work in a group of peers from your course.

I believe, and I’m sure many others will as well, that working as a group is an effective way of learning because of the many different personalities that there are and the learning styles can be varying too. There are many advantages of working in a group and incorporating cooperative learning within your studies.

  1. Learning from one another: This is very beneficial as you are able to identify how other people learn and it may help to clear any difficulties that you may have had before.
  2. Opens up debates that you would not have thought of before: This allows you to see what other ideas people have and also lets you develop other ideas that you hadn’t thought of during an input or lecture.
  3. Additional notes: Working in group and getting other ideas from peers will allow you to take additional notes that will complement what you have taken down in your lectures. This also allows you to use additional ideas to do further research helping with any individual tasks or assessments.

However, it is important to remember that you are a member of a group and so you should respect the views and opinions that are stated. It is also extremely important to ensure that no one person is dominating the discussion. After all, this a group task and so everyone has to have an equal opportunity to express their views.

Active Learning:

I believe that active learning is important at all stages of your education. It is particularly useful when you are teaching young children as it allows them to engage with what they are being taught. Active learning is also important for splitting up a child’s day rather than having them sit in the classroom not paying attention and struggling.

Much of the active learning in Primary schools, I have witnessed, is used to support and extend the children’s education and is supported through the Curriculum for Excellence system throughout Scotland.

Active learning allows children to develop their imaginations and creativity and encourages them to develop new skills which will benefit them when it comes to literacy and numeracy in particular.

Overall, cooperative working and active learning are two extremely important factors to keep in mind when thinking about the way in which we learn.