Designing, building and engaging inquiry-based professional learning communities in schools: A case study of two pilot schools

An exploratory case study was carried out to gain insight into teachers’ and schools’ participation in a school-base collaborative inquiry programme. This programme was specifically designed to facilitate the building and engagement of inquiry-based professional learning communities, within which community members conduct collaborative inquiry into their practice. The study draws upon multiple sources of evidence collected and analysed as the study progressed. The understandings drawn from the case study are resonant with our existent understandings of establishing and engaging in practice-based communities and embedding these into the school system. Furthermore, this study suggests facilitating practitioners to undertake and lead collaborative inquiry into their practice, in professional learning communities of their own making, they are empowered to take a lead in directing their schools’ development with confidence. This is because they are informed by the in situ new knowledge they have generated from their research and practice. In addition the impact of collaborative partnership upon school’s development is highlighted.