Reclaiming the Ontological Over the Epistemological: A Case Study Into a New Zealand Primary School Disclosing an Embodied Culture of Teacher Inquiry

  • Andrew Bills Flinders University
  • Bev Rogers Flinders University
  • David Giles Flinders University

Abstract

This article presents case study research into a New Zealand primary school enacting a very sophisticated whole school inquiry approach to enhance teacher classroom professionalism and practice. A culture of inquiry manifests as an ontological ‘way of being’ in this school community, in the daily professional interactions between the teachers and leaders. This ‘way of being’ is evident in the way teachers and leaders work together in espousing professional expertise, trust, care and support to enable teacher inquiry for improved classroom practice to flourish. In this article we present evidence in relation to three questions: (1) What does inquiry look like within this school community? (2) How was collaboration and support implicated in teacher inquiry? (3) How was teacher and leader engagement in inquiry related to meaningful shifts in teachers’ practice and learning? The research contributes to new understandings about the ontological nature of teacher inquiry by uncovering important links between school culture, teacher and leader inquiry, and embodied professional learning and practice.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Absolum, M. (2007). Clarity in the classroom: Using formative assessment. Building learning-centred relationships, Auckland, New Zealand: Hodder Education.

Ball, S. J. (2003). The teacher's soul and the terrors of performativity. Journal of Education Policy, 18(2), 215-228.

Bills, A., Giles, D., & Rogers, B. (2016). ‘Being in’ and ‘feeling seen’ in professional development as new teachers: The ontological layer(ing) of professional development practice. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 41(2), 106-121. http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2016v41n2.7

Bills, A. (2011). The (un)critical schoolteacher: Three lessons about teacher engagement work with marginalised students in neoliberal times. (Doctor of Education), University of Adelaide, Australia). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2440/72157

Black, P. and William, D. (1998). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. London, England: Granada Learning.

Caldwell, B. J. (2014). Realigning the governance of schools in Australia: Energising an experimentalist approach. Seminar Series Centre for Strategic Education, 233, 1-14.

Chaiklin, S., & Lave, J. (Eds.). (1993). Understanding practice: Perspectives on activity and context (Vol. 78). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Clarke, S., Timperley, H. and Hattie, J. (2001). Unlocking formative assessment: Practical strategies for enhancing students’ learning in the primary and intermediate classroom. Auckland, New Zealand: Hodder Education.

Connell, R. (2013). The neoliberal cascade and education: An essay on the market agenda and its consequences. Critical Studies in Education, 54(2), 99-112.

Crooks, T.J. (2002). Educational assessment in New Zealand schools .Assessment in Education, 9(2), 237-253.

Dall’Alba, G., & Barnacle, R. (2007). An ontological turn for higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 32(6), 679-691.

Dall’Alba, G., & Sandberg, J. (2014). A phenomenological perspective on researching work and learning. In International Handbook of Research in Professional and Practice-based Learning (pp. 279-304). Rotterdam, Netherlands: Springer.

Elmore, R. F. (2002). Bridging the gap between standards and achievement: The imperative for professional development in education. Washington, DC: Albert Shanker Institute.

Freire, P. (2003). Pedagogy of the oppressed (30th Anniversary ed.), New York, NY: Continuum.

Freire, P. (1970). The banking concept of education. In A. S. Canestrari & B. A. Marlowe (Eds.), Educational foundations: An anthology of critical readings, (pp. 99-103). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Gibbons, M., Limoges, C., Nowotny, H., Schwartzman, S., Scott, P., & Trow, M. (1994). The new production of knowledge: The dynamics of science and research in contemporary societies. London, England: SAGE.

Giles, D. L. (2014). Appreciatively building higher educator's relational sensibilities. Journal of Meaning-Centered Education, 2(1). http://www.meaningcentered.org/appreciatively-building-higher-educators-relational-sensibilities

Giles, D., Bell, M., Halsey, J., Palmer, C., Bills, A., & Rogers, B. (2016). Teaching within a relational approach to educational leadership. Melbourne, Australia: Cengage Learning Australia

Harlen, W. (2007). Criteria for evaluating systems for student assessment, Studies in Educational Evaluation, 33(1), 15-28.

Hart, S., Dixon, A., Drummond, M. J., & McIntyre, D. (2004). Learning without limits. Maidenhead, England: Open University Press.

Heidegger, M. (1998). Plato's doctrine of truth in pathmarks. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Johnson, G. (1992). Managing strategic change—strategy, culture and action. Long Range Planning, 25(1), 28-36.

Johnson, B., Down, B., Le Cornu, R., Peters, J., Sullivan, A., Pearce, J., & Hunter, J. (2016). Promoting early career teacher resilience. Abingdon, England: Routledge.

Little, J. W. (1990). The persistence of privacy: Autonomy and initiative in teachers' professional relations. Teachers College Record, 91(4), 509-536.

Rogers, B. (2015). Reframing professional learning within a collective profession: Rich and shared accountability as an integrated process of dialogue, observation and feedback about 'standards'. Paper presented at the AARE Conference: 29th Nov-3rd Dec 2015, Fremantle.

Ryan, M., & Bourke, T. (2013). The teacher as reflexive professional: Making visible the excluded discourse in teacher standards. Discourse: Studies in the cultural politics of education, 34(3), 411-423.

Sachs, J. (2001). Learning to be a teacher: Teacher education and the development of professional identity. Paper presented as keynote address at the ISATT Conference. Faro, Portugal.

Shapiro, H.S. (2005). Losing heart: The moral and spiritual mis-education of America’s children. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Thrupp, M., & White, M. (2013). Research, analysis and insight into national standards (RAINS) project: Final report: National Standards and the damage done. Hamilton, New Zealand: Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research. Retrieved from http://www.waikato.ac.nz/data/assets/pdf_file/0010/179407/RAINS-Final-report_2013-11-22.pdf

van Manen, M. (1990). Researching lived experience. New York, NY: State University of New York Press.

van Manen, M. (1997). From meaning to method. Qualitative Health Research, 7(3), 345-369.

van Manen, M. (2002). The tone of teaching: The language of pedagogy. Ontario, Canada: Althouse Press.

Walsh, P. (2006). Narrowed horizons and the impoverishment of educational discourse: Teaching, learning and performing under the new educational bureaucracies. Journal of Education Policy, 21(1), 95-117.

Yinger, R. J., & Hendricks-Lee, M. S. (2000). The language of standards and teacher education reform. Education Policy, 14(1), 94-106.

Published
2023-12-14
How to Cite
Bills, A., Rogers, B., & Giles, D. (2023). Reclaiming the Ontological Over the Epistemological: A Case Study Into a New Zealand Primary School Disclosing an Embodied Culture of Teacher Inquiry. Teachers’ Work, 20(2), 299-315. https://doi.org/10.24135/teacherswork.v20i2.611