Page 16 - Agency Project

A Six-Step Inquiry

Methodology

Your agency project should follow the following Six-Step process of inquiry. It
must be framed as a leadership project:

1 Propose a Field of Inquiry – What area of school improvement do
you want to look into? Note that this is a leadership project and not
purely pedagogical, so your inquires should have a leadership focus.
Seek explicit approval for the Inquiry from your principal or his/her
representative. It is important that the principal approve the inquiry if
it is to have a chance of making a difference in the school.

2 Establish Lines of Inquiry – Analyse issues that confront your school
to come up with the scope of the inquiry. Establish specific lines of
inquiry – there may be more than one at the onset of the project, and
be creative. This means framing possible solutions as questions for
your inquiry. This is about hypothesising and creating scenarios to be
tested.

3 Form a wider Inquiry Team – Who do you need in your team to
assist with the inquiry? Who in your school should be linked to
this inquiry? Should there be links to other schools? Who can get
information for your team or provide it with evidence of outcomes? Do
you want to do a survey to incorporate the views of a larger group, and
if so, do you need help with this? If parents are involved, do you need
support from a particular subset of them? If changes in school policies
are indicated, do you need to include the appropriate Vice Principal?

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