Practitioner enquiry is a ‘finding out’ or an investigation with an origin and method that can be explained or defended. This is usually carried out within the practitioner’s own practice or by working together with others. It is thought that practitioner enquiry should become something that is carried out every day in a school.

With being an enquiring practitioner, I think one of the many benefits is that ultimately you are helping shape education and continually changing it. Through practitioner enquiry you are encouraged to challenge and transform education as a teacher. Also, it allows the teacher to continue to learn and develop their own understand of what teaching and education is. It also helps teachers bring new ideas and new ways of teaching to the table, which could be the way forward. Lastly, practitioner enquiry allows us as teachers to become more professional.

The GTCS states “The findings can then be shared so it becomes more than reflection or personal enquiry.” Here, we can see that practitioner enquiry is also beneficial when done as a team. We already know that working collaboratively is extremely valuable to a lot of people, because we can learn things from others that we may not have thought of before, therefore by reflecting back to your colleagues about practitioner enquiry, we can see things that were missed by ourselves.

On the other hand are the more challenging aspects of being an enquiring practitioner. Practitioner enquiry is something you would really have to get used to at first, which will require a lot of time, effort and commitment.

To me as a student teacher, I know that I have to be an enquiring practitioner whilst in school, and even out of school.

The most successful education systems …invest in developing their teachers as reflective, accomplished and enquiring professionals who have the capacity to engage fully with the complexities of education and to be key actors in shaping and leading educational change. (Donaldson, 2011, p.4)

Practitioner enquiry is a really important means of developing school and education in general, therefore I am willing to be critical, questioning, thinking, leading and developing. I will therefore develop a better professional knowledge and understanding.