Ymgymryd ag Ymholiadau Proffesiyonal / Guide to Undertaking Professional Enquiry (NPEP)

‘Ymholi Proffesiynol’?

Mae hanes hir i annog athrawon i ymgymryd ag ymchwil ac ymholi. Hyrwyddwyd hyn yn gyntaf yn y 1970au gan Lawrence Stenhouse a wnaeth ddadlau pan fyddai athrawon yn ymgysylltu a datblygiad cwricwla, roedden nhw mewn gwirionedd yn ymchwilio i’w hymarfer nhw eu hunain (Stenhouse,1975).

Dros amser defnyddiwyd ystod o labeli i ddisgrifio ymchwil ac ymholi athrawon gan gynnwys ‘ymarfer adfyfyriol’ (Schon, 1983), ‘ymchwil gweithredol’ (Elliot, 1991), ‘ymchwil ymarferwyr’ (Zeichner a Noffke, 2001), ‘ymholi cydweithredol’ (Bray, 2000), ‘ymholi beirniadol’ (Aaron et al, 2006), ‘ymchwil athrawon’ (Cochran-Smith a Lytle, 1993 a 1999; MacLean a Mohr, 1999) ac ‘ymholi cydweithredol beirniadol’ ( Drew, Priestley a Michael, 2016). Daeth y dull a fabwysiadwyd gan Marilyn Cochran-Smith yn ddylanwadol iawn. Mae’n dadlau y dylai athrawon ddatblygu ‘inquiry as stance’: mewn geiriau eraill dylai hyn ddod yn rhan hanfodol o’u hymarfer proffesiynol a fydd yn eu galluogi i fod ag ‘asiantaeth’ o fewn y system addysg. Mae’n ystyried bod hyn:

‘’… nid yw’n ddancaniaeth gweithredu o’r brig-i-lawr nac o’r gwaelod-i-fyny ond yn un organig a democrataidd a fydd yn gosod gwybodaeth ymarferwyr, ymarferwyr a’u hyngweithiadau gyda myfyrwyr a rhanddeiliaid eraill yng nghanol trawsnewid addysgol’’ (Cochran-Smith a Lytle, 2009:123-124).

O dan y gwahanol ffurfiau hyn, mae’r hyn rydym wedi penderfynu ei alw yn ‘ymholi proffesiynol’ yng Nghymru wedi dod yn elfen sefydledig o ymarfer proffesiynol ac o astudio addysg o fewn Prifysgolion yn y DU (Furlong, 2013).

‘Professional Enquiry’?

Encouraging teachers to undertake research and enquiry has a long history. It was first promoted in the 1970s by Lawrence Stenhouse who argued that when teachers engaged in curriculum development, they were in effect researching their own practice (Stenhouse,1975).

Over time a range of labels has been used to describe teacher research and enquiry including ‘reflective practice’ (Schon, 1983), ‘action research’ (Elliot, 1991), ‘practitioner research’ (Zeichner and Noffke, 2001), ‘collaborative inquiry’ (Bray, 2000), ‘critical enquiry’ (Aaron et al, 2006), ‘teacher research’ (Cochran-Smith and Lytle, 1993 and 1999; MacLean and Mohr, 1999) and ‘critical collaborative enquiry’ ( Drew, Priestley and Michael, 2016). The approach adopted by Marilyn Cochran-Smith has become very influential. She argues that teachers should develop ‘inquiry as stance’: in other words, this should become an essential part of their professional practice that enables them to have ‘agency’ within the education system. She views this as:

"… neither a top-down nor a bottom-up theory of action, but an organic and democratic one that positions practitioners’ knowledge, practitioners and their interactions with students and other stakeholders at the centre of educational transformation’’ (Cochran-Smith and Lytle, 2009:123-124).

Under these various guises what we have decided in Wales to call ‘professional enquiry’ has become an established element of both professional practice and the study of education within Universities in the UK (Furlong, 2013).