ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the ecosystem connectivity between the school as a learning community, professional development and research engagement. It explores the relationship between enquiry and professional learning. The chapter considers the benefits, status and credibility of practitioner research. It examines the power of the insider’s knowledge. The chapter also explores the dynamic relationships at play between professional learning and research engagement, and indeed between the related multifarious ingredients of the school ecosystem – including the school as a learning community, the importance of generating school-based knowledge; and the contribution to wider school improvement. It describes the school as a learning community, embracing the learning of staff as well as pupils. The chapter analyses the terms ‘enquiry’ and ‘research’ and the relationship between enquiry and professional learning. It discusses the value of incorporating research engagement, in all its forms, within professional learning.
