What forms does inquiry take?

Over the course of their professional careers, educators are likely to develop a range of approaches to inquiry, each of which is designed to facilitate critical reflection. Reid (2004) suggests that the approaches might include:

• action research, where the educator identifies an issue/puzzle/contradiction, gathers data in relation to the issue, draws on research, analyses the data, theorises a strategy, acts and reviews;

• critical dialogue, where a group of educators meet regularly and engage in a form of critical discussion, typically involving one member describing a practice or a dilemma in his/her teaching and the group interrogating the assumptions and beliefs about learning upon which that practice is based. This often leads to new strategies or approaches (e.g., Smith-Maddox, 1999);

• classroom/work-place observations, where individuals, pairs or groups can observe each other teaching as a part of the process of collaboratively exploring an issue. They might describe what they see (in written form or orally) and then analyse and interpret these observations through reflection and critical discussion, in order to develop new strategies in relation to the issues/problems identified;

• journals, where educators write regularly in journals about their work, recording their criticisms, doubts, questions, successes and joys. Looking over these at intervals can often reveal some rhythms or irregularities that are not picked up when there is a focus on individual events or practices;

• critical data analysis, where educators interrogate data (gathered by them or by the system), seeking to reveal issues or interesting observations that might form the focus of further inquiry;

• appreciative inquiry, where educators gather data about successes and try to understand the factors that promote these, rather than focusing on problems. This form of inquiry starts with the assumption that whatever you want more of, already exists in an organisation. It is a matter of examining the whole, not looking at the separate parts of a system that are not working;

• portfolios, where an educator compiles evidence of successful development in his/her work. Portfolios foster reflection because they cause the educator to identify professional strengths and weaknesses;

• writing, where educators use various approaches to reflect on their work, including narrative inquiry (involving story-telling), and proposal writing (involving research and the development of a reasoned argument, as these materials do);

• text analysis, where educators analyse policy and other texts in order to unearth assumptions and theories and to subject these to critical analysis;

• program evaluation, where educators seek to assess the outcomes of particular activities, using approaches that range from goal-based evaluations to those that are open-ended and responsive.

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Reid emphasises that each approach:

• can be used in different ways for different purposes and with different starting points;

• is supported by a body of research literature;

• requires a number of action-oriented skills and techniques.

He suggests that educators need to develop a suite of inquiry techniques and skills – a kind of “inquiry tool box” – and that these include the ability to:

• clarify meaning;

• identify issues/problems/dilemmas/puzzles/successes;

• develop inquiry questions;

• collect data (e.g., through observation, documentation analysis, photographs, audio or video recording, quantitative data, interviews, questionnaires);

• locate and draw on research;

• critically interrogate practice and data;

• analyse/interpret and theorise [about] quantitative and qualitative data;

• develop and implement strategies to enhance student learning outcomes; and

• assess the extent to which strategies or action have improved learning or the learning environment.

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Because they are so complex, it is important that people be allowed time to slowly develop, monitor, and improve their “tool boxes”.

The development of an inquiry tool box might involve selecting an approach, reading about it, talking with people who have used it, experimenting with it and documenting experiences, and reflecting on the approach itself as well as the focus of the inquiry in which it has been used. No education system or single institution should simply exhort people to engage in inquiry without an acknowledgement that inquiry skills need to [be] built thoughtfully and systematically.

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