![]() ![]() How are we contributing to our learners not progressing past addition in mathematics? Is it the way we are teaching reading that leads our students to struggle to understand what they read? Why are we experiencing difficult behaviours during play-based learning sessions? Is it something to do with the way we are setting them up? The aim here is to get all the assumptions we make out on the table – some of these involve long-held beliefs, so the conversation can be challenging, but this phase is critical to moving forward. Leaders and teachers brainstorm all the reasons why they think the situation is as it is. Many people who have used the spiral report that this phase is key to the spiral's success. The third phase of the spiral involves developing hunches about how we as teachers and leaders may be contributing to the current situation. Without a tight focus, motivation and energy dissipates and little changes. ![]() Having scanned a lot of information, finding a tight focus can be challenging – it seems like there are lots of important things to do – but one of the key principles of the spiral is using a tight focus to make change, and then the new learning from that focus spreads to other areas of practice. It is really important that the focus is clear, and tight. Many things may have emerged from scanning – now the task is to select one focus for the in-depth inquiry process. In the focusing phase, the teachers and leaders choose a focus from their scanning activities. In the scanning phase teachers and leaders are seeking to understand ‘what is happening for our learners?'. Ideally, it is about both because they are so closely related. Or it might be about engagement, emotional safety, feelings of belonging, wellbeing, friendships or relationships within the school. The evidence might be about academic outcomes, using tools such as PAT (Progressive Achievement Tests) or NAPLAN (the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy), or diagnostic tests of mathematics or reading comprehension. Scanning is about gathering information about students' experiences and looking at it together, asking questions, seeking patterns and deepening understanding based on evidence from learners. Each has an important part to play in the success of the spiral. The stages: are scanning focusing developing hunches learning taking action and, checking. For many schools it works best when everyone, from the teachers of the youngest learners to the teachers of the oldest learners, work together with a shared student focus.Ĭan you take readers through each of the six stages? The experience of using the spiral to improve learner outcomes is a collaborative one, where leaders, teachers and learners work together throughout the process. The spiral of inquiry is a tool for changing mindsets and fundamental approaches to what it is to teach and lead in schools.īecause of its intention to make these fundamental shifts, it works when everyone is involved, starting with the learners. The spiral of inquiry provides a framework for teachers and leaders to use, but it makes it clear that it is an ongoing process rather than a one-off cycle that is engaged with and then put aside until ‘next time'. Sometimes these calls for improvement come with cycles for inquiry, outlining the steps teachers and leaders should take to make inquiry happen. It has potential for challenging the sometimes invisible assumptions that keep ineffective practices going despite professional learning initiatives or the reading of books or provision of resources to teachers. There are many calls for teachers to use inquiry as part of their practice because of its associations with improved outcomes for marginalised learners. The spiral of inquiry is a systematic process for investigating and improving learner outcomes academic, social and wellbeing. What is the spiral of inquiry and, typically, who is involved? Teacher spoke to Timperley (Professor Emeritus of Education at the University of Auckland) and colleagues Dr Fiona Ell (Associate Dean and Head of Teacher Education), Dr Deidre Le Fevre (Head of Graduate Programs in Educational Leadership), and Dr Kaye Twyford (Lecturer in Educational Leadership) to find out more. What is the spiral of inquiry? And, how can this approach to professional learning be used to support the complex work of leaders and teachers, and improve student learning? We recently shared the story of a Queensland school that has implemented individual development plans for teachers after a series of professional learning workshops on the spiral of inquiry with Dr Helen Timperley. ![]()
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