ABSTRACT
This chapter first examines four central dimensions that influence contexts for whole-school teacher inquiry and reflection- narrative, aesthetics, memoir and memory, and identity. It then takes a broad historical approach in describing a range of international and US approaches and schools that have influenced our current understanding of effective and engaging teacher inquiry and reflection in a range of early childhood contexts. The chapter serves as a theoretical and practical backdrop for the book's upcoming chapters on effective structures and strategies for whole-site inquiry currently practiced at a range of settings in the San Francisco Bay area. Inquiry and reflection are made all the more powerful and relevant when they can affect our identities as individuals and simultaneously as members of certain social, cultural, and educational institutions and contexts. The early childhood schools in Reggio Emilia, Northern Italy, have garnered unprecedented international interest for their cohesive social and intellectual philosophy of teacher learning and development emphasizing inquiry, documentation, and collaboration.
