Page 10 - Agency Project

Inquiry Based

Leadership Learning

Inquiry based learning is common in all ESF schools, both primary and secondary.
It is based on the old adage, “Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember,
involve me and I understand”. The final part of this statement is the essence
of inquiry based learning. Inquiry implies active participation and involvement
that leads to understanding. Inquiry learning implies possessing the skills and
attitudes that permit you to seek answers to questions and resolutions to issues
and, by doing so, to construct new knowledge (learning by doing).

Teachers use inquiry based learning in the classroom alongside other strategies,
such as explicit and directed teaching. Explicit teaching, such as rote learning,
lecturing, doing exercises on worksheets, etc., is the opposite of inquiry based
learning. Both inquiry based learning and explicit teaching are important
strategies in the toolbox of all effective teachers.

Inquiry based leadership learning is a form of inquiry based learning. It
is about actively exploring and engaging in hands-on leadership. It is the
opposite of directed and autocratic leadership. In inquiry based leadership
learning, leaders set about constructing new ideas and understandings
through a process of exploration through doing. Leaders influence
people, find better ways to achieve outcomes and deal with situations and
problems through making inquiries, collecting evidence and sharing decision
making.

Inquiry based leadership learning implies active exploration and involvement
that leads to better understanding and new knowledge. This in turn implies that
a leader will use his or her skills in concert with others to seek new answers to
questions important to their school.

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