Leading Collaborative Professional Enquiry: Implications for Teachers, Chartered Teachers and their Managers

Abstract

This research explores the implications of the practice of collaborative professional enquiry on professional re-formation and development. A series of case studies focuses on four aspiring Chartered Teachers as they lead collaborative enquiries in two schools. The case studies take account of the experiences of the teachers in the collaborative groups, as well as the managers in both schools.

Using a Foucauldian theoretical framework, relations of power between all participants are explored. This reveals that active positioning is in operation. The Chartered Teachers are positioned in an ‘in-between’ space: neither teacher nor manager, and this appears to have allowed them to construct and negotiate new possibilities, contributing to their developing professional identities. While this challenged the established hierarchies in schools, the teachers reported that undertaking collaborative professional enquiry under the leadership of the Chartered Teachers, benefitted themselves and their pupils, appearing to offer opportunities to demonstrate an active professionalism which was in contrast to the expectations of their managers.

The findings raise several issues for consideration by the profession. These include a recommendation that collaborative professional enquiry is encouraged as a core pedagogical resource. The research also highlights the need for policy makers to take account of the way power is exercised in and on schools when developing new policies and evaluating the success of current ones. It is argued that genuine and open dialogue is necessary and it is recommended that the national CPD framework should reconsider the current practice of supporting distinctive pathways within the profession.