The purpose of this paper is to outline the complexities and possibilities of developing and implementing a professional enquiry approach in supporting Health and Well-Being (HWB) curricula reform within Wales. Set against the wider global processes of social, economic, health and education reform, Wales is currently engaged with a transformative education agenda. This has necessitated changes to Initial Teacher Education (Furlong, 2015), implementation of new professional standards for teachers (Welsh Government, 2017) and a process of curricula reform (Donaldson, 2015). 

In a similar light to other examples of Physical Education and Health curricula reform elsewhere in Europe (MacPhail & Halbert, 2005; Thorburn, 2017) and Australia (Macdonald, 2013), curricula reform within Wales has led to the development of a Health and Well-being (HWB) Area of Learning and Experience (AoLE). This is one of six areas of experience and is focused on the holistic development of all children and young people’s health and well-being. Such changes are characteristic of what Bernstein (1990) illustrates as a weakening of classificatory relations, in which the boundaries that govern relations between different subject disciplines (in this case physical education, physical and social education and health and social care) are increasingly dissolved to produce what may be defined as an integrative HWB curricula (Goodson, 1995). 

The dissolution of classificatory boundaries within the new HWB AoLE has a number of complex implications for HWB teachers in Wales. Such implications include the legitimisation of knowledge, contestation over the messages that carry such knowledge and the associated pedagogic and assessment strategies required to implement the new curriculum. Yet, curricula reform also creates ‘spaces of action’ (Penney, 2013) from where teachers can be supported in challenging the dominant voices of Physical Education and explore possibilities that nuture HWB curriculum reform at the micro-level of the classroom. As a consequence, central to sustainable implementation of the HWB AoLE is exploring ways in which teachers can be supported to develop the necessary knowledge, skills, practice and values. Such a process is not without challenges (Tinning, 1996) and requires the design and implementation of a number of innovative structural developments.

In reflection of this, Welsh Government has already implemented a number of meso-structural changes to help support the development of the existing and future teaching profession. This has included the development of a network of Curriculum and Professional Learning ‘Pioneer Schools’ (Welsh Government, 2015). Supported by their Regional Education Consortia, these self-selecting schools have been tasked with aligning the new curriculum to the professional teaching and leadership standards and also testing the new HWB AoLE within schools. Such an approach reflects a strong shift in the agency provided by the Welsh Government in enabling curriculum reform to be guided by the teaching profession themselves. It also provides a unique opportunity for the messages of the new HWB AoLE to be realised within the localised context of the schools and their associated communities. 

Another key element to this strategy is the renewed focus placed on  Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s) in supporting schools to become learning organisations (Drew et al, 2016). Like in Scotland, central to such collaborations in Wales is the development and implementation of what has been described as inquiry-based approaches (Butler et al., 2015) that have the ability to impact teachers learning and practice within the micro-level of the classroom. In what follows, we outline the development and implementation of a professional enquiry approach within the context of HWB curricula reform and how this has been used to begin supporting teachers in the implementation of the new HWB AoLE. 

In a similar light to other inquiry-based systematic methodologies (such as Action Research, Critical Collaborative Professional Enquiry and Lesson Study) central to the construction of the professional enquiry approach within this study was the adoption of a number of what may be described as enquiry-based principles. Such principles, synthesised from a number of different positions (see DeLuca et al, 2015) were crucial in developing a process of professional enquiry that enabled HWB practitioners to develop; the knowledge and skills of professional enquiry, enhance and transform HWB subject knowledge, enhance and develop a supportive culture within and between schools and explore ways in which professional enquiry could be embedded into the existing and future structures of the school. The application of such principles were crucial in the design and implementation of the professional enquiry approach that consisted of three 12-week cycles. Each of the cycles focused on addressing co-agreed themes and research foci based around the implementation of the new curriculum. These included; Changes to leadership and management, curriculum meaning and development of pedagogical practice. Following university ethical approval, participants within the study were purposefully sampled from what are termed Professional Learning Pioneer Schools (PLPS) (n=19). Furthermore, within the context of each cycle, PLPS participants were required by Welsh Government to work with their associated ‘cluster schools’ (N=100). As such, a key component of the research design was the focus on ensuring that PLPS participants were provided with the space and resources to develop the knowledge and skills of professional enquiry and engage in the independent collection of empirical evidence with the cluster schools. Empirical data within each of the cycles was captured by the PLPS schools through the implementation of agreed methods including the use of semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews and document analysis. Participatory PLPS schools’ reflection of engaging with the professional enquiry model was collated through reflective logs that were periodically submitted at the end of each 12-week research cycle. At the end of each cycle, these reflective logs and other qualitative data (e.g. researcher fieldnotes) were coded using an open-coding approach (Basit, 2003). Using multiple data sources and the open coding of data enabled the application of theoretical framings (e.g. such as those of Bernstein) to inform a thematic analysis of how the PLPS participants used the professional enquiry model to engage with HWB curriculum reform.

The design and implementation of professional enquiry has highlighted the complexities of using this approach to support PLPS participants engage with the processes of curriculum reform. One immediate point of reflection were the ethical issues associated with using professional enquiry. The need for PLPS participants to act as both researcher and participant necessitated some careful consideration of the ethical risks that are potentially encountered within the course of data collection. In part, the ethical issues presented also link to the PLPS participants confidence in engaging with the compleixities of conducting professional enquiry. Such confidence, often connected with experience and knowledge of other inquiry-based approaches, shaped the initial interactions between the research team and the PLPS participants. The reflective notes from the PLPS practitioners also highlighted how engaging with the principles of professional enquiry is changing their own sense of professional identity. During these initial interactions it also became evident how the PLPS participants required protected time and space to effectively engage with professional enquiry. The study has also illustrated a number of possibilities. In providing protected time and space the use of professional enquiry cycles has accentuated the experience and knowledge of engaging with curricula reform. Providing dedicated time and space for the participants to engage with professional enquiry has also been crucial in developing ‘spaces of pedagogical action’ (Penney, 2013) from where PLPS practitioners are able to reflexively engage (Lamb & Aldous, 2016) with the future possibilities of the new HWB AoLE. This has been crucial in providing the PLPS practitioners a unique and powerful voice within the process of curriculum reform (Penney, 1998). Therefore, despite some of the complexities outlined, what is emerging is the ability of professional enquiry to provide organisational and reflexive structures from where PLPS practitioners are able to effectively implement the new HWB AoLE.

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