Research School Network: Inquiry questions: scaffolding reflection and professional curiosity Engaging and uniting teachers and leaders on key issues in teaching, learning and school improvement through disciplined inquiry
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Inquiry questions: scaffolding reflection and professional curiosity
Engaging and uniting teachers and leaders on key issues in teaching, learning and school improvement through disciplined inquiry
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by Unity Research School
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High quality teaching is one of the most powerful levers we have for improving outcomes for all children and young people, but particularly those from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Using research evidence can help to support effective practice.
Understanding research evidence and considering how it can be used to inform and develop practice in schools, as well as identifying different forms and uses of research evidence can seem a daunting challenge within the seemingly ever-changing context of the school year. The Education Endowment Foundation’s (EEF) Research Schools Network aims to support busy school leaders in this task.
Our work as one of the Research Schools within this network involves providing support to schools, colleges, and early years settings in order that they can confidently access, understand, and apply evidence, to improve quality of teaching and learning, especially for children from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
This year we have been drawing on a number of valuable updated resources from the EEF including: Using research evidence: a concise guide The EEF Guide to the Pupil Premium A school’s guide to implementation Supporting school attendance
We have also enjoyed bringing the inquiry question process increasingly alongside our work within our own trust and our wider project working. We have seen it successfully engage and unite colleagues in schools, trusts and partnership contexts, and result in rich, insightful reflections of process and impact.
It is the process of professionally pursuing a line of inquiry to improve provision and outcomes. Inquiries have a narrow focus that gives an indication of whether a particular approach can be effective in a particular context. It is important to note that inquiries are not the same as robust research trials.
Inquiry question process
This inquiry question process is not about teachers/leaders carrying out a ‘research project’ and then making grand inferences from their findings. It is an approach that encourages teachers/leaders to think deeply about how they are going to improve an aspect of their teaching or leadership priority. A narrow focus and identified outcomes enable monitoring and evaluation of the impact that this change is having on the learning of pupils/outcome sought.
The framework we utilise is one we were introduced to by colleagues at the Institute of Effective Education and Huntington Research School when we first became a Research School. Further inspiration from others, including Greenshaw Research School have seen us using it ever since!
Engaging with an inquiry question process, teachers/leaders identify a problem or issue they are keen to address. Driven by assessment not assumption, a sharp focus on an issue conducive to change is identified. The first part of the EEF’s tool for making evidence-informed implementation decisions within their implementation guidance (see 1 below) can be used to helpfully steer this process:
Having reviewed existing evidence to better understand the issue, using resources such as those from the EEF, and wider trusted sources, a potential solution is identified; this is then fed in to a simple, yet powerful framework which opens up the opportunity to reflect upon the impact of the approach as well as the process of implementation of the approach.
The inquiry question itself A well-defined inquiry question is vital. It aids planning and enables informed evaluation. The inquiry question should include the practice that will be evaluated, for how long it will be delivered, the outcomes to be measured and the people who will experience the new practice. It is neatly wrapped up in this clear, consistent format:
The beauty of this framework is in its adaptability and the precision that it scaffolds. The example below illustrates this:
You can see the same structure in this next example:
What impact does explicitly teaching Tier 2 and 3 geographical vocabulary using knowledge organisers delivered over a year have on the appropriate use of tier 2/3 vocabulary in written responses for the disadvantaged students in my Y8 class?
Utilising the inquiry question approach within leadership focussed partnership working This year we have brought this inquiry question process alongside project work within a range of partnerships. These have included a number led by Marc Rowland which focus on the leadership and implementation of attendance, SEND and disadvantaged strategies. We’ve been really excited to see leaders embrace this approach and generate priority aligned questions for their context. We’ve used example an like this to introduce it – you’ll see the same structure is employed but the context adapted to suit an element of targeted academic support or wider strategies:
What impact does [free breakfast] delivered [daily] over [12 weeks] have on [punctuality, attendance and learning behaviours] for [30 disadvantaged year 8 pupils]?
Examples created by colleagues include:
What impact does communication that is personalised, targeted, that uses inclusive language delivered during 12 weeks have on attendance and parental perceptions for children who are classed as PA at the end of Spring 1?
What impact does (specific) targeted intervention delivered over 2 terms have on reading and writing attainment for non-SEND pupil premium children at risk of not achieving age related expectations?
What impact does a focused maths fluency programme delivered over 1 year have on academic, emotional and social engagement for all children and parents but specifically those disadvantaged, in achieving greater depth?
Within the application of the inquiry question approach we really encourage colleagues to think carefully about the drivers (underlying causes) of issues, rather than symptoms, so that the approaches being adopted were not simply responding to symptoms of issues. This also helps categorise approaches, helping communicate intent and findings across the schools involved. Schools are encouraged to use qualitative and quantitative measures to evaluate impact, and have a clear focus on implementation through the process. In this way, the inquiry question process has added an evidence-informed way for colleagues to seek to identify the impact of their essential work in vital, challenging aspects of school life – this is exemplified here in the Transforming Attendance in Cornwall project (see page 52 – 66).
‘Before and after’ An important part of the process is setting the stage to be able to see if what is ‘being done’ is making a difference. This requires us to look seek a comparison – ‘What was it like before I did X and what’s it like now? Has it got any better?’ A range of evidence can be used to look at this:
assessment scores before and after the change you have made to your practice
example of pupil work before and after
student/staff questionnaires before and after
This truly underlines this inquiry question approach as a process over time, rather than an event. Implementation guidance supports here, encouraging us to adopt the behaviours that drive effective, attend to the contextual factors that influence implementation and use a structured but flexible implementation process.
Looking ahead As we draw this year’s project working to a close, we will reflect on how we might continue to refine our use of inquiry questions, sharing more in future blogs.
Keen to consider an inquiry question process yourself/in your context?
These five questions and the inquiry question framework (as earlier) might help next steps:
1. What’s the problem I’m trying to solve?
2. What does the research evidence say
3. What am I going to do differently to address this?
4. How will I monitor progress?
5. How will I evaluate impact? …. what might the first draft of my inquiry question be?
