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Key components of practitioner inquiry provide an effective approach to lasting educational change. By including narratives of practice from across diverse early childhood settings, this book investigates issues that arise during implementation of inquiry-focussed professional learning cycles. It presents practitioner inquiry as a vehicle for empowering educators and educational systems.
Research-based, this book brings together theory and practice from authors and internationally recognised commentators to inform and inspire early childhood educators. Chapters are thematically grouped in three focus areas. The first centres on background contextual information to set the scene, the second offers real-life stories based on authors' experiences and the third provides insight into broader issues of leadership and professional learning. Voices of educators, teachers and leaders are included to provide multiple points of entry for readers with different interests, backgrounds, and levels of expertise.
As a resource to support ongoing professional practice in the prior-to-school sector, this book is essential reading for early years educators, teachers and leaders of educational change. It is relevant for those investigating how educators in early childhood centres, executive offices and consultancy positions can use data-based, locally relevant investigations of practice to improve educational outcomes.
List of contents
Introduction: Inviting engagement Section 1: Setting the Scene 1. Practitioner inquiry: Processes, potentials and purposes 2. What is a useful question? 3. Evidence for change: Finding and analysing data 4. Practitioner inquiry as a tool for meeting and moving beyond regulatory requirements for teachers Section 2: Sharing Stories of Experience 5. Unpacking complexity in complex environments 6. Stories from the classroom: School-based change through an inquiry-based approach 7. ‘Forming’ ourselves as teacher~researchers 8. What matters: Participant voices in a year of sustained professional learning Section 3: Exploring big ideas 9. Unexpected opportunities: Inquiry as professional learning 10. Intersections of pedagogical documentation and practitioner inquiry 11. Effecting positive change: The role of educational leaders 12. Practitioner research as sustainable professional practice 13. Conclusion: Thinking together
Summary
By including narratives of practice from across diverse early childhood settings, this book investigates issues that arise during implementation of inquiry-focussed professional learning cycles. It presents practitioner inquiry as a vehicle for empowering educators and educational systems.
