Inquiry as Stance: Teachers Creating Space for Problem-Posing

This research study examined professional learning within an inquiry group and teachers’ perspectives on how this context differed from their district-mandated professional learning time. The action research is framed within an inquiry as stance perspective around knowledge-of-practice that focuses on teachers as problem-posers to grow their understandings and raise fundamental questions about schooling and society. A thematic approach was used to analyze the data to identify themes related to the characteristics of the inquiry group as an alternative for teacher learning. These themes included spaces for sharing and celebrating classroom stories, spaces for learning through inquiry, spaces for exploring in teaching contexts, and spaces for resistance and advocacy. The focus of the teachers in the group was not to figure out the most effective methods for predetermined ends as they were experiencing in district professional development but to resist the ways in which their learning was constantly directed by others, including the facilitators. The inquiry group became a space for teachers to reclaim ownership of their teaching and curriculum, to collectively make decisions about using books relevant to students’ lives, and to value students’ stories and personal responses to literature as important sources of student data. As facilitators, we were challenged to negotiate joint participation as we all engaged in risk-taking and problem-posing.