½¿É«µ¼º½

There is a substantial body of literature related to teachers’ action research in all its various forms. This session explores the challenges and opportunities arising from a major state-led initiative designed to develop teachers in Wales as professional enquirers. The National Professional Enquiry Project (NPEP) launched in 2018 and was a genuinely collaborative effort involving schools, universities and regional education consortia as key delivery partners. Compared to previous attempts to build research capacity within the nation’s teaching workforce this project was unique as it required different parts of the education system to coalesce around the same vision; namely, a political aspiration to develop teachers in Wales as research-engaged, reflective practitioners. The session evaluates NPEP’s contribution to this endeavour, and considers whether supporting teachers in this way was an effective mechanism for school improvement and teacher professional development. It provides unique insight into the ‘lived experience’ through the lens of those involved, and draws on new data collected as part of ongoing research into how teachers’ involvement in professional enquiry impacts their perception of who they are and what they do. Inspired by Stenhouse’s seminal work on ‘teachers as researchers’, and sympathetic to Kincheloe’s promotion of research as a vehicle for empowerment, the session positions enquiry as a form of professional nourishment that encourages practising teachers to try new things and make better, evidence-informed decisions. It argues that enquiry should be looked upon more favourably and given greater prominence by policymakers, as both a vehicle for recruitment and a mechanism through which teachers can be retained and enriched.

Draft Programme:

16:00±è³¾ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýIntroduction; Pete Boyd, University of Cumbria

16:05pm            Feeding teachers’ curiosity: developing a culture of enquiry across schools in
                             Wales; Gareth Edwards, University of Wales Trinity Saint David

16:45pm             Q&A

17:00pm            Close of Event