Professional Learning from Classroom-Based Inquiries

This book provides authentic practice-based inquiries by pre-service teachers. Their reflective narratives showcase their individual inquiries as they navigated their self-chosen professional learning journeys through the teaching as inquiry framework. The narratives advance what it means to be a reflective practitioner in practice and highlight necessary dispositional skill sets to attain valuable professional learning through inquiry. Through an inquiry stance, pre-service teachers are liberated from being knowledge consumers to local knowledge producers relevant to their practice. The dissonance this shift creates, negates the ‘comfortable doing’ of teaching to make the act of teaching authentic, relevant, and powerful. 

Dr. Jyoti Rookshana Jhagroo is a senior lecturer in the School of Education, Faculty of Culture and Society, at the Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. She began her teaching career in 1988 in South Africa and continued to teach at primary and secondary schools since moving to New Zealand in 1997. After completing her doctorate which focused on understanding the immigrant experience in the mathematics classroom, she joined the university as a lecturer. In her senior leadership role as Director of teacher education, she led the development and implementation of the initial teacher education programmes. Her current research activities include mathematics education, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and the professional learning and development of teachers through inquiry.

Dr Patricia Stringer has been involved in graduate and post graduate teacher education and educational administration programmes internationally and in New Zealand. Her doctorate focused on capacity building for school improvement. Her current research activities explore engagement in practices relevant to teacher professional learning and systemic improvement.