FOSIL Symposium 2025

Brief contextual details of the presenters may be found here.

Free and online – register here or see below.

The Symposium is an opportunity for colleagues who are developing engaged and empowered inquirers to share with and learn from each other. While our focus is FOSIL-based inquiry, it is not exclusively so, and the Symposium is open to and free for all who share our conviction that inquiry, properly understood and supported, is the most potent educational survival strategy that we can equip our students with, which also enables them to thrive. The reason for this is that inquiry is a fundamental human response to reality, and dealing successfully with reality is the only true measure of human success. The revolution will not be televised, although in this case it will be recorded.

08:45 – 09:00 | Welcome | Elizabeth Hutchinson, School Library Specialist

09:00 – 09:15 | Revolutionary musing | Dianne Oberg, Professor Emerita at the University of Alberta, and Jennifer Branch-Mueller, Associate Dean in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta and President of the International Association of School Librarianship, co-authors of Focus on inquiry: a teacher’s guide to implementing inquiry-based learning, which includes the Alberta Inquiry Model

09:15 – 10:00 | The revolution will not be televised | Lee FitzGerald, Editor of ACCESS, Journal of the Australian School Library Association, and Adjunct Lecturer on the Master of Education: Teacher Librarianship course at Charles Sturt University, and Joanne Bleby, History Coordinator at Loreto Kirribilli

10:00 – 10:15 | Break

10:15 – 11:45 | FOSIL Developments | Darryl Toerien, Head of Inquiry-Based Learning at Blanchelande College, and originator of FOSIL and the FOSIL Group

Institute for the Advancement of Inquiry (IAI)

• Founding the Institute | Darryl Toerien
• Symbolising the Institute | Lara Stanford, Year 13 student at Blanchelande College
• Integrating the Institute | Jane Grange, Director of Studies at Blanchelande College
• Hosting the Institute | Alexa Yeoman, Principal of Blanchelande College
• Valuing the Institute | Mark Le Page, Managing Director of Orthoginian Limited and former Deputy Director of the Guernsey Financial Services Commission

Heroic Inquiry

• Conceptualising Heroic Inquiry | Darryl Toerien
• Reconceptualising Heroic Inquiry | Hugh Rose, Illustrator of Traditional Stories

11:45 – 12:00 | Revolutionary musing | Mary-Rose Grieve, Librarian at Hartland International School, Co-Chair of Great School Libraries and National Committee member of CILIP’s School Libraries Group

12:00 – 12:45 | Lunch

12:45 – 13:30 | The revolution will not be televised | Ruth Maloney, Librarian at Tonbridge Grammar School

13:30 – 14:15 | The revolution will not be televised | Jannath Khanom, Learning Resource Centre Manager at Connaught School for Girls

14:15 – 14:30 | Break

14:30 – 15:15 | The revolution will not be televised | David Harrow, Headmaster at AKS Lytham, Faye Marland, Assistant Head (Staff and Student Development), and Nick O’Loughlin, Head of Student Inquiry

15:15 – 16:15 |  Concluding revolutionary musing | Barbara Stripling, Professor Emerita at Syracuse University, and originator of Stripling’s Model of Inquiry and the Empire State Information Fluency Continuum

16:15 – 16:30 | Farewell | Elizabeth Hutchinson, School Library Specialist

Notes on the sessions:

The practical sessions – called The revolution will not be televised to, somewhat ironically, underscore the fact that the real educational revolution, the one that is actually needed, is hard won and for no earthly gain – essentially address three questions: Why inquiry? What are your obstacles to inquiry? Nevertheless, how are you engaging and empowering inquirers?

By contrast, Revolutionary musing is an opportunity to speak to the moment we find ourselves in.

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FOSIL – and the work of the FOSIL Group through the FOSIL Group website – is supported by the UK School Library Association.