Introduction

Traditionally, professional development (PD) and continuous professional development (CPD) have been recognised as important by teachers and schools, but tended to be focused on attending courses, which may or may not be linked to school developments and improvement. Teachers were asked to demonstrate that they had engaged in professional development, usually by the production of a certificate awarded on completion of a course or series of courses. The particular challenge for leaders is to develop schools with high adaptive capacity so that on-going professional learning becomes a planned part of the development of every professional in every school. Practitioner enquiry develops the learning culture in a school, which will support the school leadership in driving forward meaningful change. Practitioner enquiry helps the development of dispositions and attitudes that support system leadership, with the ultimate aim of developing the self-improving system.