Practitioner inquiry: troubling certainty

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we present an argument for Practitioner Inquiry (PI). We briefly introduce PI, and we indicate how PI recasts the professional and political role of the Early Years Practitioner (practitioner). At the core of this article is the work of the early childhood pioneer, Friedrich Froebel (1782–1852). Froebel provided principles to support the continued professional development of practitioners. We draw on data from our Froebelian Futures project, which could be described as a call to action, where practitioners are viewed as research active, and competing values exist. Several strong, committed practitioners gave their time, energy and intellectual resources to further enhance their knowledge of Froebel and develop their skills as researchers. This led us to ask questions about the role that ethics plays in PI research and the boundaries that exist between university ethics committees and more practitioner led research.

KEYWORDS:

• Friedrich froebel
• early childhood
• practitioner inquiry
• evidence-based practice
• collective research
• shared insights

Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge the early learning and childcare practitioners, the children and the families who participated in the Froebelian Futures project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Practitioner inquiry training and leadership training.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Froebel Trust. For further information on the Froebelian Futures project, including team members, activities and outputs, please visit https://www.froebel.ed.ac.uk.