Reading: Clarke, A., & Erickson, G. (2003). Teacher inquiry: Living the research in everyday practice. London, UK: Routledge Falmer. [Available online via UBCLib] Ch. 1: Teacher inquiry: a defining feature of professional practice, pp. 1-6.

What is professional Practice?
Key Dimensions:

• Specialized knowledge
• Intensive preparation
• A code of conduct
• An emphasis on continued learning
• And the rendering of a public service

Personal Note: Why would all professional practices need to involve public services?

4 Phases of development of teaching as a profession:

• Pre-professionalism: Teachers follow system wide directives about particular teaching practices
• Autonomous professional: Given greater authority to select from among particular pedagogical strategies.Teacher practices are still carefully prescribed by higher authorities
• Collaborative professional: Collaboration among teachers enables authentic professional communities to develop in schools that investigate and respond to local problems and issues.
• Post-modern professional: Characterized by a recognition of complexity and uncertainty.

Now more than ever it is important for teachers to engage in systematic and sustained inquiry that lifts teachers to engage in systematic and sustained inquiry that lifts teachers out of the pre-professional prejudice.

• Failure to do this will result in the de-professionalization and control of curricula and pedagogical practices to be taken away from teachers.

For teaching to be seen as a profession teachers must have the ability and willingness to inquire into their own practices into ways of improving and developing their practices.

What is teacher inquiry?
Teacher inquiry is a generally agreed upon set of insider research practices that promote teachers taking a close, critical look at their teaching and the academic and social development of their students.

Inquiry involves a cycle of: Inquiry, Reflection, and Action

While student learning is a goal, often the continuing learning of teachers is overlooked. While continuous learning and the improvement of our practice should be at the core of teacher professionalism.

• Personal Notes: I agree, it is important to find a balance between expanding students knowledge and learning and expanding our own knowledge and learning.