Now that you have considered the purpose of enquiry and the specific area you’d like to explore, it is important to think about the process. This includes how you will achieve this in your setting.

Part two of practitioner enquiry with professor Kate Wall (YouTube) focusses on the process of enquiry.

Please note: although this video is from a few years ago, and aimed at teachers engaging in enquiry, it is relevant to all of us.

Examples for your setting

Early Learning and Childcare

ELC practitioners may also want to look at assessment through observation (education.gov.scot) .Although these materials are primarily about assessment, there is a focus on features of effective observation.

Schools

Primary and secondary school teachers might also want to look at The ‘How’ of Practitioner Enquiry (gtcs.org) and Action Research in the Classroom Chapter 1 (pages 2-4) (ebsco.com)    

To access this e-book, login to EBSCO via MyGTCS before visiting the link. You can also login and search under e-Books, research and enquiry. Watch our video guide to accessing EBSCO resources.

Community Learning and Development

Community Learning and Development practitioners can access three training resources which support the learning from the book 'The impact of community work - how to gather evidence'.

The course contains a range of videos on topics related to gathering and utilising evidence. For example, 'what is evidence?', 'who gathers evidence?' and 'what happens to the evidence?'.

Training Resources two and three focus on planning and evaluation, and anecdote and observation.

1. The Impact of Community Work: How to Gather Evidence (i-develop-cld.org.uk) 

2. Statistics and Stories: Introduction (i-develop-cld.org.uk) 

3. Community-led action research | SCDC - We believe communities matter

Your process for enquiry

Now that you have looked at examples of enquiry processes, take time to write in your reflective journal under the title ‘My Process for Enquiry’.

When updating your journal:

• note any parts of a process which you find helpful
• ignore any steps which you consider unclear
• make a note of any steps which you feel are missing from the process

Create a simple diagram, table or chart to show your enquiry process. This should make sense to you. Use this as a guide.

Consider:

1. which parts of the process are you confident about?

2. do any parts of the process cause feelings of uncertainty?

There is no right or wrong answer here, you are simply identifying a process which you intend to try out and then reflect upon.