Learning rounds: What potential for teacher Inquiry?

Back in 2015 I began work with a primary school in Derby City that was under Special Measures. It was the beginning of a school-university partnership that was to last for over two years. During that time the staff were given the opportunity to ‘research’ and collect evidence related to problematic areas of their practice. Looking back at this work which was eventually published Poultney, 2017), I began to wonder just what ‘research’ had really meant in this primary school context and what these teachers had gained from their experience of collecting evidence, arriving at solutions to their teaching problems, telling other teachers about their findings and writing their chapters for this book. Many of the contributors to the book have since taken up promoted roles, been confident enough to speak at various conferences and make contribution to many professional events since then. Over the time we spent together these teachers have developed a confident ‘critical eye’ and the ability to ask insightful ask about practice. Day (2017) refers this as the establishment of ‘human capital’ which is likely to engender trust and a sense of
individual and collective well-being which will motivate teachers to engage in activities directly related to raising school standards.