Today I have had the pleasure of sharing and collaborating with fellow SPARK MIT 2017 Teachers, Dorie, Kelsey, Alicia, Andrea, Angela, Sandy and Troy, alongside Dorothy, about our inquiries for this year.  This was such a great way of gaining insight into different ways in which my colleagues were looking at implementing change and addressing a wide range of issues within education, for the benefit of learners in our various schools.  Whilst the schools, locations and school sectors varied on many levels, it was extremely inspiring and reassuring to share on different issues that have scoped the focus for each of our different inquiries.

With my particular inquiry, discussions and feedback have enabled me to refine what the overall focus will look like over the year.

Problems that I identified include the following:

• Teacher Practice - Consistent teacher practice and consistent use of learning tools
• Barriers to Learning - cyclical. Students bringing devices - why, why not
• Barriers to learning. Why should I change my practice? Teacher-focused v Student-focused
• Baseline expectations on the use of learning tools
• Consistent recording and assessment of data in junior school eg. curriculum levels

The process of undertaking my inquiry is well on it's way.  However, today's discussions have been a timely reminder of the value of student voice, teacher voice and parent voice, within the inquiry process.  Next steps will be to identify effective ways in which data not only be collected, but also utilised to enable effective changes to be implemented and to take place.