Jenni Donohoo
Collaborative Inquiry: Partnership Principles 1-3

In my first post, we covered the strategy of Collaborative Teacher Inquiry.
Principle #1 â Equality: Professional Learning With Teachers Rather Than Training Done to Teachers
By recognizing the critical role teachersâ play in school improvement, collaborative inquiry differs greatly from a model in which training is âdoneâ to teachers. Utilizing a collaborative inquiry design ensures that outside experts no longer transmit knowledge to teachers; instead, the team uses their collective wisdom and diverse experiences to generate knowledge and new understandings. Teachers are entrusted with the responsibility of shaping and enacting change initiatives, as their expertise and capability to lead are recognized and acknowledged. Everyoneâs ideas and insights matter. During the collaborative inquiry process, team members do not tell each other what to do, they decide together.
Jim explains the Partnership Principle âequalityâ in the following sense, âPeople may bring different skills and knowledge but whatâs important to note is that everyone deserves to be counted the same â everyoneâs opinion matters equallyâ (personal communication, July 21st, 2014). Jim suggests that people who embrace the principle of equality âlisten to everyone with the same care and attentionâ (Knight, 2011, p. 29). Applying the principle of equality throughout the collaborative inquiry process will ensure that the âsum is greater than its partsâ. Team members build healthy and stronger relationships by listening to one another and accepting each person as an equal.
Principle #2 â Choice: Teachers Should Have Choice Regarding How They Learn
Knight (2011) argues that âfailing to provide real choice in helping relationships is a recipe for disasterâ (p. 32) but also notes that âmeaningful choice can only occur within a structureâ (p. 34). Collaborative inquiry provides individuals with the autonomy to determine how they will learn. Once a team identifies the most urgent learning needs of their students, teachers then identify their professional learning needs. How to go about gaining additional knowledge and skills is left up to the participants to decide. Teams often turn to theory, reading research articles and/or engaging in a book study. Sometimes team members opt to observe each otherâs practice, co-plan a lesson or unit of study, moderate student work, and/or develop common formative assessments. The structure depends on the focus which was determined based on studentsâ needs. Applying the principle of choice when it comes to acquiring new knowledge and skills will ensure that participants remain motivated to learn. Relationships are enriched as team members share new understandings and become accountable to one another to continually learn and grow.
Principle #3 â Voice: Professional Learning Should Empower and Respect the Voices of Teachers
In a collaborative inquiry cycle, team members are not told that they must implement step-by-step programs, rather their thoughts and suggestions count. Teachers find their voice as they are encouraged (and given permission) to explore, discover, and develop solutions to the challenges related to their craft. Their voice is honoured as they identify, select, test, and evaluate various teaching approaches and strategies. The transformational potential of collaborative inquiry lies in empowering teachers as change agents. Eliciting and respecting teachersâ voices is an essential aspect where this is concerned. In addition, relationships are enhanced as team members demonstrate that they value the perspectives of their colleagues.
There are four more principles from Unmistakable Impact, which weâll cover in my post tomorrow.
Originally Published:
Donohoo, J. (2015). Three-Part Blog Series - Collaborative Inquiry: Helping Relationships, Partnership Principles 1-3, Partnership Principles 4-7. Corwin-Connect, July 29th-31st 2014. Download available from:
http://corwin-connect.com/2014/07/collaborative-inquiry-helping-relationships/