The purpose of practitioner enquiry is to ask questions that will provide useful information about learners to inform our classroom practice and the support strategies implemented.

As a teacher it’s important to use professional reflection to ask questions about what is working and why. Teachers are on a journey of career long professional learning and it is part of our practice to reflect on the effectiveness of our teaching opportunities and learning environments, to consider what is working that we can replicate and what isn’t working well and could be improved.

Professional enquiry bridges research and pedagogy for teachers, by enabling them to improve their teaching practice and the outcomes for learners by embedding critical reflection and questioning into our professional dialogue and investigation by building on a process of plan, do, review, continue. With an emphasis on sharing the findings of an enquiry with pupils, teachers, the school community and beyond.

Literature & Policy

Diversity and equality policies have been embedded throughout the Curriculum for Excellence, policies such as Getting it Right for Every Child and the Scottish Attainment Challenge highlight educational aims of equity and opportunities for success and achievement. The 2017 National Improvement Framework network stated its aims to ensure consistent high quality education and effective teaching practice by providing learners opportunities to develop a broad spectrum of transferable skills, capacities, knowledge and understanding. Closing the poverty related attainment gap between those in the most and least deprived areas in Scotland is a priority because every child in Scotland deserves equal opportunities in their education and also because poverty, social circumstances and additional support needs such as not speaking English do create challenging barriers to learning in school and accessing the curriculum without appropriate support, resources and funding.

https://www.scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/New_Scots_2018_-_2022.pdf

By reviewing literature on progressive changes to EAL educational terminology in Northern Ireland, it is suggested that to meet the needs of the holistic pupil in school and promote active integration – we must go beyond the needs of acquiring English, focusing on social development, cultural awareness, language for communicating with peers and supporting recovery from trauma. This has shifted how pupils with English as an Additional Languages needs are identified and met in N.I. , pupils who do not speak English, who have limited schooling experience and who have refugee status as referred to as “Newcomers”. Although this terminology change may seem insignificant, behind this literature is a push to change how we ensure our EAL pupils are integrating in their class and school community. To ensure that their social, cultural and emotional needs are being met within their education as a hierarchy of needs that must be met prior to language acquisition and development of competency during the pupils silent period.

https://core.ac.uk/reader/4150687