Fostering a Culture of School Improvement Using Action Research

Teachers know their own classrooms better than any outside researcher. Action research puts that knowledge to work on the questions your school needs answering, and gives staff real ownership of their professional learning instead of CPD that's done to them.

Making it stick takes a plan, and you'll leave with one. Give each inquiry a full year and protected time. Use a five-minute research plan to turn an interest into a focused question, set a baseline and measures to show what changed, and share findings as an academic poster or a short seminar for colleagues.

The ideas come from an experienced senior leader whose school once dropped performance management for a year so staff could put everything into their inquiry. Even the projects that didn't work out gave those teachers next year's question.