No abstract

University faculty members, district and school administrators, and teams of teachers from seven rural schools worked together for 18 months, seeking to accomplish clearly identified school improvement goals using a collaborative inquiry approach. Five of seven school teams demonstrated increases in collaborative behavior that, in turn, enhanced their ability to accomplish their goals. Four schools showed improvements in student achievement on external exams that were identified as measures related to their goals. Two schools showed minimal improvement on any measures. Lack of improvement was mostly related to changes in team membership, changes in leadership, unresolved conflict, or an inability to sustain focus on a goal. Improvement in student learning was observed and documented in writing and reading skills, numeracy, assignment completion, and classroom behavior. The most apparent aspects of teacher growth were pronounced increases in professional reading, enhanced knowledge of curriculum, improved assessment practices, and shared leadership. However, involvement in the project failed to encourage a majority of teachers to share aspects of their teaching practice with their colleagues. Principals of successful projects were seen to be effective in sharing responsibility, managing conflict, communicating clearly, and ensuring task completion. Less effective principals were seen as more controlling. less willing to delegaie, and not skilful in managing conflict.SPRING 2008 53

This paper describes a two-year action research study of 20 pre-service teachers (referred to in the context of this study as intern teachers) in their final 15-week practicum, during which they engaged in a type of action research known as collaborative inquiry. Over the course of their practicum, these intern teachers were interviewed monthly to ascertain the impact of collaborative inquiry on their confidence and competence as emerging reflective practitioners. Interview data were triangulated with observations by their practicum mentor teachers, resulting in three skills that participants believed could be attributed to implementing a collaborative inquiry model during practicum: intern teachers increased their understanding of the reflective process and its role in improving their instructional effectiveness; intern teachers increased their skill and confidence in working with colleagues to address pedagogical and practical problems; and intern teachers increased their ability to engage in professional learning as teacher-researchers, that is, in their ability to link theory with practice.

Background ‘Measures’ is a 2‐year, part‐funded European Community project. It began in March 1998 and has, as its primary foci, the aims of continuing to improve the quality and efficiency of patient care by, (1) re‐examining healthcare processes and (2) determining how best to take advantage of information technology. Central to this has been patient involvement in the project. Initially the project is focused on aspects of rheumatology, diabetes and spinal injury services based across Pinderfields and Pontefract NHS Hospitals Trust. Approach Patient questionnaires, interactive cross‐specialty and individual specialty focus groups have been employed. The re‐enforcement of relationships with voluntary organizations has featured prominently. Conclusion Initial perception from patients participating in the process is highly positive and supportive. Specific areas to be considered for change have been addressed.

Using collaborative inquiry as a methodology for investigation, this study examined the implementation of a model of generative leadership (Adams et al., 2019) to explore the question: In what ways can implementation of a generative leadership model of professional learning for school leaders influence their sense of efficacy? An adapted model of generative leadership was adopted by seven school leaders in Alberta, Canada over a period of three years. Data was collected at the end of each year through journal reflections (Bashan & Holsblat, 2017) to ascertain school leaders’ levels of efficacy. Findings revealed four themes that identified how a generative leadership model influenced participants’ effectiveness in their roles. These findings offer insight into how models of school leader professional learning might be re-imagined in order to positively influence their sense of efficacy.