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his paper explores the development of a whole-school practitioner enquiry based professional learning programme from the perspective of one secondary school, the teachers involved, as well as the school management team. In a policy context where ‘learning by enquiring’ is one of three main strands of learning of the new Scottish National Model of Professional Learning (Education Scotland, 2019), this programme is one example of how a school and the system around it is reacting to this demand to be research engaged (Cordingley, 2015, Hall, 2009). Enquiry has been implemented on a whole-school basis, for example as described by Gilchrist (2018), as a school research centre (see Firth, 2016), as a network (Wall et al., 2010) or as part of university modules/courses (for example McLaughlin et al., 2006), but such projects are the exception rather than the rule. If the Professional Learning Model is going to be successful, then it is important to find effective ways to roll out practitioner enquiry that overcome barriers and maximise staff buy in. Successful models will also provide examples which can emulated in other European countries where practitioner enquiry is a priority.

The project drew on a number of previous approaches to practitioner enquiry. At the core was Cochran-Smith and Lytle’s (2009) ‘inquiry as stance’, whereby inquiry becomes part of a teacher’s professional identity with every aspect of professional practice and the curriculum as a whole becoming potential subjects for inquiry and professional scrutiny. As such, practitioner enquiry can be seen as part of a broader movement towards equity and social change, something that is, on a policy level, seen as top priority in the Scottish education system at present. Hall and Wall (2019)’s emphasis on making enquiries manageable within a teacher’s existing workload, and fitting existing priorities rather than being additional, was also used. This model showed enquiries vary widely in terms of scope and methodology. Similarly, Firth (2019) highlights the importance of making enquiry projects fit within a teacher’s available time, and notes that projects can range from small-scale applications of evidence to the classroom (followed by an evaluation), through to larger scale collaborative research projects, potentially in partnership with HE.

The 12-month project (May 2019 - May 2020) involved a sustained partnership approach between a team of researchers from the University and the school staff to develop the concept of a practitioner enquiry research hub; an approach aligned to Mclaughlin and Black-Hawkins‘s (2004) description of a school-university research partnership. Over the year, school staff and the research team engaged in a range of enquiry-based dialogue, i.e. no one person had the answers, with the aim of co-constructing next steps and generating cumulative, cross school understandings of what worked in teaching and learning, as well as the thorny subject of enquiry. This meant a commitment across all university colleagues and staff, from senior leadership to probationary teachers, to explicitly undertake some form of enquiry,  disclose their key questions, engage in a research process to find out the answers, and share the outcomes (Hall and Wall 2019). To do this, the whole-school professional learning programme was flipped to become teacher owned and driven by their practitioner enquiries, a bottom-up model, replacing the previous top-down, senior leadership-driven model.

A range of supportive practices was implemented for staff, including whole school practitioner enquiry training, a researcher in residence, coaching sessions for every member of staff as well as time in whole school collaborative sessions. These were reviewed regularly and adapted where needed, in accordance to a model of enquiry (Hall and Wall, 2019).

When developing the idea of the research hub with the local authority and school, it was felt it was important to build in a programme of enquiry and research given the increased interest in practitioner enquiry as a form of school-based, teacher-led professional learning across Scottish education (Kennedy & Beck, 2018; Wall, 2019). This commitment to enquire into the successful and the not so successful aspects of the hub aimed to mirror the enquiry process undertaken by the teachers, locating the university team as authentic co-enquirers. This study therefore adopted an interpretive approach, which allowed us to use participants’ reflections on their experiences as data (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2011). The research model included iterative cycles of development in line with practitioner enquiry methodologies (Hall and Wall 2019). Our enquiry questions were: 1. What are teachers’ experiences of developing their own practitioner enquiry project as part of a whole-school programme of professional learning? 2. What factors restrict or support teachers’ participation in practitioner enquiry? 3. What factors restrict or support a whole-school programme of practitioner enquiry? 4. To what extent do teachers feel that practitioner enquiry is a useful form of whole-school professional learning? 5. To what extent do members of the school management team feel that the development of a practitioner enquiry hub is a useful form of whole-school professional learning? Data to answer these questions was collected through a series of focus groups as well as the analysis of secondary data such as teachers’ draft project proposals and feedback. In addition, following a similar approach to that used in the ‘Learning to Learn in Schools’ (see Thomas et al., 2014) enquiry project, we pursued narrative interviews with members of senior management. Analysis Interview data was coded according to themes, and to the question it relates to. These themes are then be used to deduce which elements of the programme have been most successful, for example have staff particularly valued one-to-one coaching sessions. These themes inform the conclusions which also act as a list of suggestions for practical application in university-school partnerships.

Data gathering is not yet complete and some elements had to be put on hold due to the pandemic, however early indications are that the practitioner enquiry hub has been a useful form of whole-school professional learning which has resulted in greater engagement and buy-in from teachers. The individual teacher data is expected to indicate a wider range of opinion, and we intend to compare this with the school-wide and leadership team perspective to consider the level of success as a whole, and the ‘lessons learned’ in developing this enquiry hub as a basis for further investment in research in the field. The form of data gathering allows analysis of this data, and understanding of a range of opinions, leading directly to conclusions which impact future professional enquiry hubs. Question one provides a holistic overview to the interaction with practitioner enquiry, while question two gives an understanding of how we can support teachers in being research engaged. Questions three and four give a wider scope for this and will be compared to question five to tease out differing perceptions.

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