CoL Teaching As Inquiry; The importance of a shared vision focusing on change

Hypothesis 1: A collaborative inquiry across the junior school (Years 1-3) will grow professional capital across the school. The shared inquiry will allow all students across the junior school to benefit from the effectiveness of changed practice and allow teachers to learn from and with each other. It will hopefully also enable an effective changed practice to become sustainable.

The importance of a shared vision focusing on change

One of my first questions is how do I get our Junior team to paddle this waka with me so that all our students benefit from changed practice, change is sustainable and effective practice is shared?

Teachers need a desire to change their practice (Hargreaves, 1994), desire being "the basis of creativity, change, commitment and engagement (Hargreaves, 1994, p12)". A desire to change connects teachers to their practice. This desire drives 'exceptional and creative teachers' towards excellence in their practice and strong relationships with students. Pink (2009) talks about being able to see the purpose underpinning the learning and giving value to it in order to surpass the bare minimum of what is required. Hattie (2012) acknowledges that expert teachers are passionately engaged in teaching and learning, both inspired by student learning and inspiring students to learn. Teachers need to be intrinsically motivated through autonomy, mastery and purpose to change their pedagogical ideas.

In order for cohesive change to occur all participants, including families and students, need to be connected and committed to a shared moral purpose. Teachers need to align their beliefs with a shared vision, building capacity through working together in a purposeful doing, within a supportive change climate. (Fullan & Quinn, 2016).

Therefore, teachers need to understand the need to change. Assessment information highlights this need along with the data gathered from Welcome To School: A Study of Conditions of Disadvantage on Entry to School in the Manaiakalani Kahui Ako (2017). It is important that we look at this data together during the 'Learn Stage' of the inquiry to understand the status quo and to release the need to change our practice to accelerate student learning. 

Teachers need to see and value the purpose underpinning the learning in order to be intrinsically motivated to change their pedagogical practice. The 'Why' behind the change becomes incredibly important. Teachers need to understand and value the theory and 'why' behind pedagogical interventions to see the purpose underpinning the learning. If this doesn't happen will teachers being intrinsically motivated to change their practice? 

For the cohesive change to occur we need to be paddling the same waka. Successfully conducting a collaborate inquiry will mean aligning our beliefs with a shared vision, having a shared understanding of pedagogical interventions and working together in purposeful doing supporting each other along the way.