So, what does that look like in practice? This year, alongside our ‘full inquiry’ work, I have been invited in to teach Year 13 English students about citing and referencing, and to help Year 13 French students understand how to locate sources to prepare for their research based A-level speaking assessment. Last year we also offered two sessions for Year 13 History students on finding resources for their historical investigation Non Examined Assessment, and on citing and referencing – the only reason we haven’t done that this year is that the student concerned was one of my EPQ students, so having completed that she did not need extra ‘skills’ instruction.
To give you an idea what that looks like in practice, here are the presentations I used:
The English groups are taught this year by our Director of Studies, who is an astonishingly talented teacher and manager. As far as I am aware, she began her own journey with inquiry eighteen months ago when she joined Blanchelande at the same time that we moved here. Although my only involvement with the Year 13 English coursework this year was this one session, I am hopeful that we might have more involvement next year. However, out of the relationship that we have built with her over the last two years, two weeks ago she suddenly presented me with an inquiry she had designed by herself for her Year 10 students and asked for my input. She had done an amazing job, but was also very happy to accept my advice for changes that would make it better. She then ran the inquiry entirely by herself – although I saw much of it in progress and she was very happy for me to attend the final presentations. I will post on this separately elsewhere because the inquiry is worth its own thread.
My point, however, is for us not to despise the day of small beginnings as we never know where they will lead.
[Aside: I could feel threatened that this teacher can now design and run an excellent inquiry all by herself, with minimal support from me. I’m actually delighted because it shows that what we are doing is working, and that it has a future that does not depend on us. It also gives me more time to work with other teachers who may need my help more, and to support her on other occasions when she may not have the time or the expertise she needs.]
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