Aiming High for Disabled Children

Collaborative Inquiry: “How do we improve our practice?”

Interim Report

November 2010

Dr Joan Walton

Director

Centre for the Child and Family

Liverpool Hope University

waltonj@hope.ac.uk

CONTENTS

Page
2	1. Introduction
	2. Overall aim of project
	3. Methodology
3	4. Project objectives
	5. How will successful achievements of objectives be evaluated and achieved?
4	6. Background to project
6	7. Rationale for methodology
	8. Progress to date
7	9. Creating a focus based on current educational / policy documents
8	10. Current situation
9	Appendix 1 Progress update of group participants
11	Appendix 2 An example of ‘educational input’ that has been included A response to the issue of confidence that has been raised on many occasions during the enquiry
13	Appendix 3 The academic underpinning to the project
17	Appendix 4 Framework for collaborative inquiry
21	Appendix 5 Examples of initial Action Plans
25	Appendix 6 Examples of later Action Plans becoming more focused
29	Appendix 7 A progressive series of accounts and action plan from a Day Nursery Manager 1. Personal account July 2010 2. Personal account October 2010 3. Action Plan November 2010-11-27 4. What it has meant to me being part of the AHDC Project

1. Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to provide a progress report on the Collaborative Inquiry funded by AHDC Childcare funding stream and is a joint working approach between Liverpool Children’s services (Early Years) and the Centre for the Child and Family at Liverpool Hope University. The overall aim of the Centre for the Child and Family is to enquire into the question: “How can we integrate research and practice to demonstrably improve the well-being of children and young people?”

2.	Background and overall aim of project
	Funding for AHDC offered the opportunity for services to find new ways of working that are sustainable and make a real difference to disabled children and their families. Over recent years there has been considerable investment in training /CPD for practitioners focusing on SEN / Inclusion. However the impact on practice in settings has been limited and many barriers to learning still exist for children with disabilities. For this project it is recognised that ‘transformational learning’ at individual practitioner level is an essential step in order for a transformation in services to take place. The overall aim of the project is to demonstrably improve the wellbeing of children and young people through the facilitation of a collaborative inquiry with practitioners and managers who focus on the questions: (i) ‘How can I improve my practice in my work with children, young people and parents?’; and (ii) “How can we as a group influence the learning of each other and the wider professional contexts in which we live and work, for the benefit of children and young people?”
3.	Methodology
	The collaborative inquiry is based on a living theory approach to action research. This is a continuous improvement research methodology, which encourages the practitioner to become increasingly aware and reflective of their moment-by-moment practice. A living theory approach provides a constant opportunity for the practitioner to practise, account for, and gain feedback on the skills which they are focusing on to improve. An important aspect of the methodology is the significance of there being a group as well as an individual exploration of the question ‘How can I improve my practice?’ Opportunity, time and space to reflect is what is afforded to the practitioners. It is important that practitioners gain time away from their setting, and have the space to ‘deepen the dialogue’ with others in their group. They are then are able to think through and articulate what they are learning and taking forward, and to understand why they are doing this. Funding has been allocated so that they can identify non-contact time in their settings to read, write and reflect. A major element of the project is about ‘creating a space’ that allows time for critical thinking, making choices, taking responsibility, feeling empowered, and developing conversation and practices that have the upmost meaning and relevance for each of the practitioners.
4.	Project objectives
	1. To increase the motivation and commitment of practitioners by enabling them to locate and articulate their beliefs and values so that they become more reflective in their practice and have a deepened understanding of the difference they can make to children’s wellbeing. 2. To create and implement Action Plans for improving their practice based on their values and what matters to them. 3. To support practitioners in the process of providing evidence and accounting for what they have done to improve the wellbeing of children and young people. 4. For practitioners to recognise that they have a valuable contribution to make in the creation of knowledge relevant to improving the wellbeing of children and families as a result of creating and implementing their Action Plans. 5. For research and policy-making at local and national levels to be grounded in the experience and knowledge-creation of practitioners.
6.	How will successful achievement of objectives be evaluated and validated?
	(i) Taking an action research approach to improving practice encourages using a wide range of methods for providing the evidence of the influence a person has had in their practice. Practitioners are encouraged to complete a proforma when planning what they will do (see Appendix 4). The relevant parts of the proforma in terms of providing evidence are the following three sections: - How do I evaluate the impact my actions have had? - How do I show that the account I have given of my impact on practice is valid; what evidence do I have that I have made a demonstrable improvement in the wellbeing of a child or young person? - How do I modify my concerns, ideas and actions in the light of my evaluation, taking other people’s feedback in relation to the quality of my evidence into account?
	(ii) Examples of evidence include: - A written account of what has been done and achieved. These may include reflective accounts of what has happened, and/or ‘stories’ written by practitioners which give an account of the influence of their values in action, and evidence of how their actions have ‘made a difference’ to the quality of the experience of a child. - A video showing (for example) the quality of interaction between a practitioner and a child (which can be used to support a written account). The use of Flip Mino cameras are excellent for this purpose. - Photographs showing evidence of activities being carried out in the workplace, or of work achieved. - Changes of behaviour using baseline indicators of behaviour/performance, followed up by quantifiable measurements of change.

7. Background to the project

Existing research methodologies appear to do little to inform professional practice in relation to enhancing the wellbeing of children. Conventional research tends to describe or explain what contributes to the wellbeing of children, but does little to improve it. This is evidenced by the UNICEF 2007 report, which undertook an international survey; and identified that, based on an average of 6 indicators of wellbeing, the UK ranked 21^st out of 21 rich countries.

It seems, then, that we need to develop forms of research that will help us actually make a difference to children’s lives.

On looking at existing research, it seems that there is a considerable gap between what is written in academic publications, and the knowledge that is created by practitioners working on a day to day basis with children and young people. Amongst the various professional groups (including, for example, day nursery staff and foster carers as well as qualified teachers and health visitors) there is a wealth of excellent practice which improves the lives of children on a daily basis.

However, such expertise and experience often remains within the isolated contexts in which they are practised, with the learning and knowledge creation that is generated in these places having no opportunity to inform a wider policy–making or research agenda.

At the same time, research activities which are published in reputable academic journals often report on work that is of no direct value to practitioners, are generally written in a form of language that is not easy to follow; and even if they are readable, are not easily accessible to those with no connection to an academic establishment.

A contention underpinning this project is that research should be grounded more in the experience of managers and practitioners who work directly with and for children and young people; but if this is to happen, professionals at all levels need to see themselves as knowledge creators. That is, they need to value the role that they play, and be prepared to take responsibility for accounting for, and providing evidence of, what they do to ‘improve their practice’ in their daily work.

If research is grounded in the work of practitioners, and if practitioners are supported in the process of contributing to academic research, then eventually research and practice will inform each other in a mutually beneficial way. The AHDC collaborative inquiry seeks to address this issue by discovering ways in which practitioners can learn to see themselves as knowledge creators who can validly contribute to research publications. The ultimate aim is to influence what counts as ‘effective’ practice in relation to improving the wellbeing of children and young people at practice-based, policy-making and academic levels.

7. Rationale for methodology

Professor Jack Whitehead, who is visiting professor in the Centre for the Child and Family, has over the past 20 years developed a living theory approach to action research. This approach to research starts with the practitioner identifying ‘what matters to them’, what their values are, and how they use their values as they aim to improve their professional practice. As a consequence of this kind of enquiry, 30 people have gained PhDs, and many more have been awarded Masters qualifications (see http://www.actionresearch.net).

However, this approach to ‘improving practice’ has not been widely used by practitioners at all levels of an organisation, including those such as day nursery workers who relate directly to children. The hypothesis forming the basis of the AHDC project is that, as staff are encouraged, individually and collaboratively, to:

- think through their values and what matters to them;

- establish what they do well and what concerns them;

- draw up action plans as to how they can improve what they do;

then there will over time be a transformational impact on their personal practice, and on their influence on the children, families and colleagues with whom they work.

Although this project is very new, there is already evidence of the impact that it is having in certain settings. The indication is that as people ‘get the point’ of what the project is about, the speed of change begins to accelerate, with a range of evidence to demonstrate impact against key indicators. By the end of March 2011 there should be considerable evidence to support this contention.

8. Progress to date

(i) Many practitioners have a huge amount of commitment to, and passion for, the work that they do. When asked to share what ‘really matters to them’, what their values are, and how they would like to make a difference, the stories they tell are often powerful, and have a great impact on those listening. (Even those who don’t initially have this passion have often had it knocked out of them by the ‘system’; so it is a contention within this project that in the right circumstances, those who have become disaffected over time could become re-energised and engaged.)

(ii) A problem is that many practitioners working in children’s services do not necessarily believe that the work they do is of such importance, and that what they learn through their experience can/should influence research publications.

(iii) But indeed, it is the moment by moment relationship that practitioners create with children and young people that will ‘make the difference’ to the wellbeing of children, one way or another. So it is by paying attention ‘in this present moment’ to what is happening in the relationship between the practitioner and the child that is of significance (is there ever anything more significant than what is happening right here, right now? – and yet so often we get distracted from what we are doing by dwelling on past events, or planning / worrying about future ones).

(iv) In this context, the concept of ‘mindfulness’ is important. Jon Kabat-Zinn expresses it as follows:

(v) Kabat-Zinn sees mindfulness as paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally.  If we see things in this way, it increases awareness and clarity of our present-moment reality. It is a practical way to notice what is going on, right here, right now. When working with children and with parents, it allows us to focus on what is happening in the relationship; and also to focus on what perhaps should be happening; so that our behaviour is not influenced by issues concerning us that are to do with other places, other people and other times.

(vi) The actual skills to enable us to focus on what is happening ‘in this present moment’ might be simple, but because it is so different to how our minds normally behave, it takes considerable practice.

(vii) If the wellbeing of children provides the ultimate focus of all action within children’s services, then the work of managers should be to create a context that supports and enables practitioners to provide appropriate attention ‘in this present moment’. They should be able to account for their actions in such a way that they can demonstrate what impact they are having on the wellbeing of children through their influence on the practitioners, and on the professional contexts in which they are working.

(viii) Of course, parents are usually the most significant people in a child’s life; so it is important that they are an integral part of the process; and that they too understand that how they relate to their child ‘in the present moment’ is vital to the child’s wellbeing. An essential aspect, then, of the professional work of practitioners and their managers, is how parents are engaged in ways where they feel valued, where their strengths are recognised, and where they are given appropriate support when required. Ideally they too will be supported in the process of becoming ‘knowledge creators’ and contributing to the research process.

(ix) To summarise: the hypothesis being investigated is that if every person who wants to make a positive difference to the wellbeing of children were to think about :

- what really mattered to them;

- how they would like to make a difference;

- what the values are that are motivating them to have this intention;

- how they could put those values into practice;

and then they paid attention ‘in the moment’:

- to how they put those values into practice;

- recognised any ‘living contradictions’;

- attempted over time to ‘narrow the gap’ between their values, and values into practice;

then over time practice would improve in ways which could be evidenced and validated.

9. Creating a focus based on current educational / policy documents

Each practitioner is selecting an area of practice on which they are going to focus. This could be work they are doing with a particular child or with a parent. For managers, it may be work they are doing to support their staff in improving what they do.

The focus will relate to one of the four themes of the Early Years Foundation Stage:

- A Unique Child

- Positive Relationships

- Enabling Environments

- Learning and Development

Practitioners may create their action plans in relation to one of the Every Child Matters outcomes:

- be healthy

- stay safe

- enjoy and achieve

- make a positive contribution

- achieve economic well-being.

The focus could also be taken from one of the Five Golden Threads in the C4EO document: "Grasping the nettle: early intervention for children, families and communities".

- The best start in life (importance of prior to 5½)

- Language for life (acquisition of language)

- Engaging parents

- Smarter working, better services (i.e. integrated services)

- Knowledge is power.

The report Grasping the Nettle includes the following comment, which justifies one of the aims of the collaborative inquiry (that is, to influence research and policy making):

“The Bercow Review highlighted the extent to which the ability to communicate underpins a child’s social, emotional and educational development, and the fact that there is insufficient understanding of this amongst policy-makers and commissioners nationally and locally, professionals and service providers, and sometimes parents and families themselves.” (p.32)

Bercow also asserts “the importance of communication skills being emphasised in guidance to early years settings and schools; the importance of interactions between parents/carers and their children, the early linguistic environments of young children (in the home and in early years settings and schools), and the value of practitioners/teachers working with parents to develop children’s communication skills.” (p 33)

It was noted in this report that the impact of effective interventions has been hugely successful, as evidenced by marked improvements in children’s learning and achievement, practitioners’ confidence and parental feedback. (p.38)

10. Current situation

Most group participants have written personal accounts and/or initial action plans identifying what their values are and “what matters to them”. These create a rich resource of material for those wanting to know exactly what motivates and influences the lives of practitioners in early years settings. Practitioners are only now learning to understand that what they have to offer is truly of value; and that their experience, and the learning they gain from their experience, has much to offer the worlds of research and of policy development.

The group are now at the stage to select their specific focus, and to create clear Action Plans that identify what they are going to achieve over the next few months. The challenge of providing good evidence of what they do is getting priority attention.

It is planned to hold a seminar or conference in late June or early July 2011, where participants will have the chance to present and ‘showcase’ their learning and knowledge creation that has been developed over the previous year. It should be clear by that time that this method of enquiry, starting with individuals within work settings, but over time influencing the practice of all within the work setting, does result in transformative learning and change, and is an effective way of developing, sustaining and embedding that transformational change within all practice settings where practitioners have participated in the collaborative learning project.

APPENDIX 1

Progress update of group participants

Setting	Name	Summary of progress
Setting 1	A	All fully engaged and writing accounts and action plans. A as manager is supporting B and C in looking at issues of what constitutes good evidence
	B
	C
Setting 2	D	Fully engaged, written good accounts and a detailed Action Plan. D as manager leading the way, but involving all members of staff.
	E
	F
Setting 3	G	Both fully engaged, involving all staff within the project, and making good progress both in improving practice, and taking into account issues of what constitutes verifiable evidence. Detailed Action Plans drawn up.
	H
Setting 4	I	Fully engaged; involving the whole staff group; have a clear plan of action for the next few months.
	J
Setting 5	K	Engaged with project, have written good initial action plans identifying values and what matters to them; now need to write detailed Action Plans focusing on one particular area of their professional practice.
	L
Setting 6	M	Fully engaged, and involving the whole of the staff team.
Setting 7	N	It took time for N to work out what she had to offer and gain from the project, but is now fully engaged. Has drawn up a detailed Action Plan. P has largely withdrawn due to other college pressures in her life, but continues to support N.
	P
Setting 8	Q	Q fully engaged, and writing accounts and action plans. Has just moved employment to another area (but is continuing with her Action Plans– her experience in Liverpool is influencing her work with children in the new setting). It took time for R to feel that she had anything of value to offer the project; but she is now fully engaged and progressing.
	R
Setting 9	S	Attended a session before the summer, but have not attended since then. They continue to be sent the information, they will be followed up when there is further progress with the rest of the group, and they will be invited to re-engage at that stage to test out learning gained from project.
	T
Setting 10	U	Other than the initial introductory session, have not attended any meetings. They are not now included in the mailing list.
	V
Manager / Parent	W	Attends when she is able, and is engaged.
Parent	X	X, though initially very keen, has not been able to attend sessions for practical reasons. It is partly because of this practical difficulty of involving parents in the project that an extension looking at ‘how we can improve our relationships with parents” has been created as an extension to the project.

APPENDIX 2

An example of ‘educational input’ that has been included:

A response to the issue of confidence that has been raised on many occasions during the enquiry

Confidence

The issues of confidence, self-confidence, and self-esteem have arisen a number of times in a range of contexts since this project started. Several people in exploring where their values come from, and what matters to them most, have identified that they have been influenced by childhood experiences, both positive and negative. The writings of some of you have been hugely powerful and significant in this respect.

There are two main learning points that emerge from an exploration of this kind. Firstly is the realisation that it can help to identify the experiences and beliefs that affect your perception of yourself, and why you do the work that you do. Being able to identify what these are may help you understand yourself more as a professional, and think about how you might make best use of your experience, knowledge and skills.

Secondly, becoming more aware of the kinds of ‘in the moment’ experiences that have influenced you as a child can help increase awareness of the significance of each interaction with each child; that is, we cannot generally know the impact of any single interaction with a child (either for good or ill); so as people committed to the wellbeing of children, we each of us have a responsibility to do what we can to ensure that the child’s experience ‘in each present moment’ is a positive one, imbued with love, warmth and individualised care.

In helping us to understand more about the nature of the relationship between childhood experiences and how we feel and behave as adults, I have quoted and adapted a reflection on self-confidence from the writing of Mike Wesley, Life Coach: Self-Confidence is a Magic Key

(see http://www.uklifecoaching.org/selfconfidence.htm for the original version).

Why Is Self Confidence Sometimes Low?

Personalities are formed in our early years. Before the age of 11 (some say before the age of 7) the major building blocks of our personalities are laid down. It is upon these blocks that the rest of our lives are founded.

During these formative years, there are two major factors influencing the formation of our personalities:

• Parenting
• Schooling

Unfortunately, these activities don't always go smoothly. Let's first consider parenting.

Self Confidence & Parenting

Most parents didn't read the manual. They may have been very young and inexperienced, with little support from their own parents. They may be highly stressed by work, relationships, financial pressures and so on. They may be overwhelmed by the parenting burden, and they may also be damaged by their own parents.

Even the most loving and balanced of parents will transmit problems from their own environments and personalities, into the minds of their children. And average or struggling parents may do far worse. Children are, by definition - learning how to do everything - they don't come pre-skilled. If parents are impatient and critical with their learning offspring, they will wear down a child's sense of competency, instilling the notion that they are natural failures. If parents are openly angry, their children will learn that the world is full of angry people, and that much of what life has to offer is painful and frightening. Now when you consider that - in a child's eyes, their parents are all-knowing GODS who cannot be wrong, you'll come to see how children can be devastated by the parenting process. They will come to know that they are no good at anything, and that failure attracts anger and pain. That's how poor parenting builds a child with low self confidence. And a child with low self confidence grows up - almost inevitably - to be an adult with low self confidence.

If you are a parent or working in education, please carefully consider the impact of every interaction you have with children and try to grow happy and successful people with high self confidence.

Self Confidence & Schooling

Even if your parents are pretty good, your school is probably going to bite you. Young children are raw human beings who have not yet been "civilized" in the ways of not being cruel, or selectively articulating their thoughts. If they see that you have a big birth mark on your face, they are going to mention it, and they may already have learned to make fun of it, and to gather in groups based on social fit - the IN crowd and the OUT crowd. This is all natural playground stuff, but it is also a jungle where the vulnerable can learn some dreadful truths about the world. Principally, they learn that they are in the OUT crowd, and that the IN crowd are going to make them suffer for it.

Self Confidence & Beliefs

So, with one or both of these environments delivering many negative messages to a young child, you can see how damage can be done. Young children are especially vulnerable, because they have no broader context by which they can dismiss the poor behaviour of others as irrelevant, and they have few personal skills to limit the damage. They will simply drink in those negative messages and swallow hard. This critical period in a child's life is where their beliefs are laid down.

Let's reflect on what belief is. A belief is something you KNOW is true, without needing to think about why you believe it. Beliefs can be so entrenched and permanent that we don't even know that we hold them. Yet they sit there in our heads, silently directing our behaviour. They tell us that we're not meant to be successful, that we can't find a good-looking partner and so shouldn't try, that taking risks is always a bad idea, that the world is a scary place, that any group we might aspire to belong to is going to reject us, because we're in the OUT crowd. In such a world, what's the point in trying? It's just a recipe for misery.

I know from my coaching practice the truly astonishing power of beliefs. Here's an example:

Geoff is intelligent and a competent professional, but in social situations he considers himself something of a disaster, and his life is a much smaller one than he would prefer because of it. He is struggling with two sides of his self. One wants to be outgoing and fun-loving; the other fears rejection. Unfortunately, this latter half seems to be in charge. So one half of Geoff keeps putting himself in promising situations then his other half keeps sabotaging them. Geoff is very frustrated and has run out of ideas.

Whilst coaching Geoff, it became clear that Geoff was apparently blind to a whole raft of things he could do to build friendships in social situations. Through very careful questioning, I was able to uncover some interesting history.

As a child, Geoff had a minor physical abnormality and was taunted in the playground. At that time, Geoff learned two things about life:

1. He was ugly
2. People are cruel

More than 30 years later, Geoff still held these beliefs. In other words, he acted on the basis that he knew they were true. Though parts of his intellect knew that the facts did not support these beliefs, he continued to hold them inside, from where they drove his destructive behaviour. Before coaching he did not consciously know any of this.

Through some challenging dialogue about options, Geoff recognised that he was ruling out hugely productive things he might do in social situations, because they could not work. And they could not work, because HE WAS UGLY, AND PEOPLE ARE CRUEL. Geoff began a difficult process of un-learning these beliefs and now has a growing repertoire of social skills. He is taking more social risks and doing more things socially. He’s beginning to sparkle. He’s finally becoming the person he felt sure deep down, that he ought to be, or perhaps always was.

The message of this account for us in the collaborative inquiry group

As carers of children, we have a responsibility to ensure that, whatever mood we are in, we should ensure that the children we are with know that what we feel is not their fault; it is not because of something they have done. You can either do this by ‘bracketing off’ your negative state of mind for the moment, and behaving with ‘loving kindness’; or if this feels too impossible to do, at least explain to the child what it is that you are feeling and why; and in the process reassure them that you are not angry / upset etc with them.

APPENDIX 3

The academic underpinning to the project

Boyer’s Model of Scholarship applied to a Collaborative Inquiry:

“How do I Improve the Wellbeing of Children and Young People?”

	Focus	Content
1.	Boyer’s (1990) idea of a new scholarship	Boyer’s introduces the idea that instead of scholarship only applying to forms of theoretical academic research, there should be 4 dimensions to scholarship: Discovery - that is, the creation of knowledge, research; Teaching - enabling teaching and learning to be informed by research; Application - of research and learning in practice; Integration - of research, teaching and learning, and application in practice, using and developing knowledge from across disciplines; and in relation to inter- and intra-professional collaboration.
2.	Boyer’s idea of a new scholarship applied to the AHDC Collaborative Inquiry	Research question: how do we create knowledge that will enhance the wellbeing of children and young people? Teaching: supporting the learning and development of practitioners, both as individuals and as part of the group process, as they create and implement Action Plans to improve their practice – integrating formal theoretical input as and when relevant. Application: the practitioners apply the learning to practice situations, and in implementing their Action Plans, create new knowledge, with findings and outcomes evidenced and evaluated. Integration: the overall aim of the collaborative inquiry is to support practitioners in the process of integrating new learning into practice, across professional groups, drawing on different sources of knowledge, to enable the wellbeing of children and young people to be demonstrably enhanced.
3.	Schön (1995) suggests the new scholarship requires a new epistemology that will emerge from action research.	The collaborative inquiry is based on a living theory approach to action research. Living theory starts with: - What matters to the individual in relation to their contribution to improving the wellbeing of children and young people; - What their values are and how they can be applied to their work; - What motivates them to do the best that they can do.
4.	Developing a living theory (Whitehead and McNiff 2006)	A living theory approach to action research has as its focus the recognition and evidencing of good practice, whilst at the same time encouraging the practitioner and/or manager to look at how they can improve what they do. Consequently a culture of continuous learning and improvement is developed over time, in which each person is responsible and can account for their practice, and what they are doing to improve it.
		Practitioners and managers feel empowered; and due to their high motivation and engagement, the improvements are embedded and become self-sustaining.

Boyer’s model of scholarship related to intra- and inter-professional working

and collaborative learning within children’s services

The following develops Boyer’s expanded understanding of scholarship, and Schön’s view that this notion of scholarship would require a new epistemology which would emerge from action research. The table below aims to give a ‘snapshot’ of the relationship between Boyer’s model, Schön’s suggested methodology, the development of the Centre for the Child and Family in general, and with specific reference to the AHDC Project.

Boyer’s model of scholarship		Significance of Schön’s idea of a new epistemology for a new scholarship
Form of scholarship	Focus	Implications for developing the new model of scholarship into practice	Relevance for the development of the Centre for the Child & Family	Relevance for the AHDC Project
Discovery	Research – creation of new knowledge.	New knowledge resulting from inquiry in practice (including reflection-in-practice and reflection-on-practice) will not be created from objective observation and analysis – it requires forms of action research.	Meta research question: How do we integrate research and practice to improve the wellbeing of children and young people? The principle of action research, and collaborative inquiry / learning is integral to the development of the centre, and to the research work that it seeks to encourage, both by academics within the university, and by professionals outside it.	The main purpose of the research is to ground the creation of new knowledge in the experience of practitioners who are learning how to improve their practice; and for others in the organisation to focus on how they in turn can improve their practice to support and empower practitioners.
Teaching and learning	Communicating research and knowledge in ways that encourages transformational learning.	The practice of teaching (and learning) gives rise to new forms of knowledge.	Teaching is integrated as required to enable professionals (both in and beyond the university) to engage in an action research approach to the creation of new knowledge required to improve practice in relation to children and young people.	Development opportunities are integrated into the collaborative inquiry process, providing knowledge to meet specific learning needs as and when they are identified. The practitioners involved in the inquiry are informed by knowledge gained through research; and they are encouraged to engage in their own living theory process of reflection and professional development.
Application	Research is used to address social issues and problems.	Knowledge should be generated both for, and from, action in wider society – new intellectual understanding will arise out of applying knowledge in practice.	Research is undertaken in any setting concerned with the wellbeing of children and/or families, always seeking to discover ways of enhancing inter-professional working.	The participants in the collaborative inquiry generate their own Action Plans which they then implement in practice, reflecting and giving an account of what happens, and producing evidence to validate their claims to have improved the wellbeing of children and young people.
Integration	Locates and integrates research within a wider knowledge context; creates connections across disciplines.	Research findings need to be synthesised within larger, more comprehensive understandings.	Research is founded on an expression of the professional values that are important to the researchers, rather than focused on specific disciplines – and hence is interdisciplinary, within an inclusive context.	The emphasis is on collaborative working and learning to develop a more integrated form of working between all professionals involved in the working in children’s services, developing a knowledge base that will enhance and inform inter-professional collaboration.

Academic references:

Boyer, E.L. 1990. Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Schön, D. 1995. Knowing-in-Action: The New Scholarship Requires a New Epistemology. Change, November/December, 27-34.

Whitehead, J. (2000) ‘How do I improve my practice? Creating and legitimating an epistemology of practice’, Reflective Practice, 1(1); 91–104.

Whitehead, J. & McNiff, J. (2006) Action Research Living Theory, London; Sage.

APPENDIX 4

Framework for collaborative inquiry

AIMING HIGH FOR DISABLED CHILDREN

Name

What really matters to me? What do I care passionately about? What kind of difference do I want to make in the world?

What are my values and why?

What is my concern?

Why am I concerned?

What kind of experiences can I describe to show the reasons for my concerns?

What can I do about it?

What will I do about it?

How do I evaluate the educational influences of my actions?

How do I demonstrate the validity of the account of my educational influence in learning?

How do I modify my concerns, ideas and actions in the light of my evaluation?

APPENDIX 5

Examples of initial Action Plans

Name	Participant A
What really matters to me?  What do I care passionately about?  What kind of difference do I want to make in the world?	That children do not get hurt by the unkindness and insensitivity of the adults around them.  That each child is treated kindly, moment to moment, as if each of those moments matters.   That my words and actions can affect a child's life, which, if touched in a positive way by my interest and kindness to them can be a small step towards them realising that they are important.
What are my values and why?	I try to live up to what I believe, which is that kindness costs nothing but matters a great deal - the corollary of which is that unkindness hurts in ways that we cannot see but manifests itself in ways which can be devastating in a small child's precious life.  Why? Ask any adult what they remember from childhood and it is often the painful memories, often caused by an adult's unkindness to them which comes to the fore, even if those memories are washed over by happy times too.
What is my concern?	That I sometimes feel that whatever I try to do is never enough.   I am concerned that my staff too have so many demands placed upon them that some children will fall through the safety net we offer them in their early years.
Why am I concerned?	I feel stretched and pulled in so many directions, as are my wonderful staff, that I worry that we cannot meet the needs of all our special children.   I am however, trying to be kinder to both myself and them, and accepting that we can only do what we can do.

What kind of experiences can I describe to show the reasons for my concerns?	We have so many new initiatives and targets we are required to work towards and under that something has to give. I want to feel that we have honestly done our best for each of our children but sometimes it is difficult to accept that maybe we have not. Our children's experiences are diverse and some of their lives so complex that we can allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by them.
What can I do about it?	I can accept that we all have limitations and that some children need our support and help more than others, and that is o.k. It is that group that we need to focus upon whilst keeping a watchful eye on the rest.
What will I do about it?	Carry on! I know that there are many past and existing families we have supported for whom we are and have made a difference in their lives.
How do I evaluate the educational influences of my actions?	By closely monitoring progress if it is quantifiable; by listening to and watching our children develop into happy little ones if it is not; by listening to our parents and the joy they demonstrate when what might, to others, seem a small triumph.
How do I demonstrate the validity of the account of my educational influence in learning?	By my response and interaction with others; by my inspiring better practice and being a good listener so that others can derive ideas for further successes.
How do I modify my concerns, ideas and actions in the light of my evaluation?	By asking myself  'How can I do it better next time?'; 'What have I learned?'; 'What impact did I make on this child's life and that of their family?'; 'How do I move forward from here?'

Name	Practitioner B
What really matters to me? What do I care passionately about? What kind of difference do I want to make in the world?	What matters to me is that children are given the foundations for building high self esteem and an understanding of their worth and value for being who they are. This could then give them the confidence to challenge assumptions and unfairness in their lives as they grow and they can fight for equality for themselves. I want children to feel as though they are special and loved and that being who they are, has a positive impact on the lives of others. I want the people responsible for these children to value themselves and pass on self respect to the children in their care.
What are my values and why?	Equality and respect. I think very few people grow up with strong feelings of self worth and justice.
What is my concern?	That children are not taught to value themselves. Our children will grow up in a violent, racist, sexist society where appearances, material things and status, shape the quality of life you are afforded. Children are limited by the opportunities they are exposed to.
Why am I concerned?	I live in a city where a child was murdered in a racial attack by another child who attended the same school. Was Anthony Walker murdered because his attacker hated him, or because he hated himself? My own daughter told me that she did not want to be black because everyone knows it is better to be white.
What kind of experiences can I describe to show the reasons for my concerns?	I can show, how through specific activities such as music, treasure baskets, family days, practitioners are able to form a relationship with a child which allows them to know that child a little better. To fall in love a little bit more, that’s not what I mean exactly, but it is kind of…
What can I do about it?	Explore ways in which we as a team can do this. Understand the journey that practitioners need to go through to want to get to this stage. Does everyone want to be so involved? Time for such interaction is precious, but this may also be because some practitioners don’t really want to.
What will I do about it?	Ask practitioners to identify their own values, understand where they are coming from. Why are they here and what do they want from this experience? Everyone would admit it is not for the wages although this is obviously important.
How do I evaluate the educational influences of my actions?	Observation and action. Encourage peer support, observation and evaluation.
How do I demonstrate the validity of the account of my educational influence in learning?	Opening up communication and mutual respect, mind mapping ideas and coming to a shared ethos. Understanding that team dynamics change and therefore the setting philosophy must change in reflection.

APPENDIX 6

Examples of later Action Plans becoming more focused

AHDC Collaborative Inquiry

Action Plan

Aim	Action to be taken	Who to be involved	When
To measure the impact/influence nursery staff have on a child’s behaviour by looking at how the main stakeholders react and respond to each other.	Gather information to: · set a baseline for how Paul was when he first attended the nursery; · examine incidents that have occurred; · find out what action staff have taken so far; · see if actions of others have had any impact on the way staff are handling situations; · see if information from our policy, courses, or books have had an impact/ influence on how staff handle situations; · see what is happening on a day by day basis through observation and record it in written and video form; · reflect and review as a group and amend strategies and responses accordingly; · monitor the effectiveness of strategies used by the response of Paul and the behaviour demonstrated; · monitor comments made and the reaction of those listening; · to get feedback on Paul’s behaviour from the parent; · find out how the child feels in order to get an insight as to what works best; · record changes in behaviour and · use stories to explain what is occurring.	The Room Leader The Behaviour Management Co-ordinator The Manager The Parent The Child: to be known as Paul.	From November 2010 Monitor daily and record weekly. Review with Parent and Staff monthly.

AHDC Collaborative Inquiry

Enquiry Question: How do I improve my practice as a SENCO, with a particular focus on developing good relationships with parents?

Aim	Action to be taken	Who to be involved	When
Give parents improved information re the role of the SENCO	Change content of the Admissions Book. Using the EYFS principal of ‘positive Relationships’ and the TAC Model, ensure that the importance of a ‘two way flow’ of information is made clear. Think about the language used- this is often a barrier to engagement Does the SEN Policy need updating in a similar way?	M (with support of manager)	By end of 2010
Work with staff to influence their attitudes concerning the role of the SENCO / Inclusion	Encourage staff to understand that M’s role is not just about being the ‘specialist’ who is delegated to look after children with special needs. Her role is more about supporting staff to enable them to develop the appropriate knowledge / skills to look after these children. The EYFS is inclusive in its approach. I suspect it is the confidence of practitioners rather than attitudinal barriers that results in M being seen as the one who ‘knows’. about SEN. We talk about this a lot in the DIP TAC meetings. The IDP is designed to offer support with this. Perhaps you could look at a way of taking this forward with staff? The CPD materials so far have SLCN and ASD as their focus. Which one would be most relevant to your setting? It may be that you have already done an action plan as all SENCOs have been encouraged to do this at the DIP TAC groups- you may feel this could be usefully incorporated with this project. Think also in terms of universal/targeted and specialist support. Most children in settings who are ‘vulnerable’ need universal and targeted interventions which by definition means everyone who works with the child needs to be involved.	M	In staff meetings and in conversations with individuals

	Change name of SENCO to Inclusion Officer. M has already mentioned this to her manager, who has approved the proposal in principle; it now needs to be actioned. I feel that M is on the right lines here as ‘special’ and ‘education’ do not capture the ethos that M wants to nurture. However, some settings already have an inclusion officer that takes the lead in meeting the needs of children who speak EAL. I do not know if this is the case at the nursery but if so this will need to be carefully thought through.	M to agree formalisation of this with her manager.	By end November
To influence parents’ attitudes towards inclusion; and to develop a better relationship with parents.	To plan programme of open days / evenings for next six months – as an opportunity to speak to parents or potential parents about the meaning of inclusion / partnership with parents. It may be different with this nursery but often such events are poorly attended. I am wondering if an EYFS open day where parents can come along and see what you do and how their children learn with a particular emphasis on the ‘Unique Child’ may have more impact. Strengthening the understanding of the key person approach would offer the opportunity to with parents about the need to work closely together to identify likes and interests and the most appropriate next steps for learning. This approach is what should be happening for all it’s just that the dialogue with parents is deepened when it comes to SEN.	M	Programme to be planned before Christmas Whilst the programme could be planned, the run up to Xmas is a particularly hectic time for settings and maybe an open day in January would be better.

APPENDIX 7

A Progressive series of accounts and action plan from a Day Nursery Manager

5. Personal account July 2010

6. Personal account October 2010

7. Action Plan November 2010-11-27

8. What it has meant to me being part of the AHDC Project

June 2010

To describe my values is quite difficult. I have always felt strongly that I need everyone I come in to contact with to feel accepted and valued but there is clearly more to relationships than this. A barrier to this is my own prejudices and the needs and expectations of people I come into contact with. I believe that everyone should be treated equally, but beyond this, my core values are that I would like all children and their families to feel that they are special, worthy and able to achieve great things.

A possible barrier to this in Early Years is the values of the practitioners caring for these children. It is the experience of many people in Early Years that childcare was the route of teenagers who did not achieve high grades at secondary school. The profession is not valued in society and certainly not seen as one which requires great intellect. It is a ‘caring’ profession and one which is popular amongst young women who are unsure about what they want to do as a career but know that they like young children through their experience of babysitting.

If therefore, practitioners have entered a profession which has little respect in secondary education; little rewards in the workplace with regards to status and salaries; little career progression, then how many practitioners really value themselves? Many I know complain that they are expected to do the job of teachers without the salary or recognition yet lack the ambition and motivation to study further to gain the qualifications to get the recognition. This is obviously not true of all practitioners and I believe that social standing and economics play a huge role in the accessibility of higher education for early years practitioners.

I left school in 1988 without any qualifications and was advised by teachers to apply for a career in nursery nursing. I was told that my best route would be to train through a ‘YTS’ (youth training scheme) but a friend of the family recommended I try for the NNEB. Teachers told me that it would be unlikely that I would pass the exam and the level of work required would probably be higher than I was able to achieve. I tried anyway and passed. I gained the NNEB which I did find challenging, but certainly achievable. I then started work in an Early Years setting attached to a University where I saw Mum’s struggle, but achieve to gain degrees and PGCE’s whilst caring for their own small children. It was later when I started working at the setting I work at now, that I considered enhancing my knowledge through a degree at evening class. I passed my BA, and went on to achieve Early Years Professional Status. In the past two years I have encouraged two staff members to embark on a foundation degree and one to gain Early Years Professional Status. There are now just five staff members yet to access higher education. I want the staff at the nursery to understand that their role will be respected when they learn to respect and value themselves and understand that they can achieve anything they put their minds to. They can also always improve their skills and their practice.

In practice I have managed to employ professionals in other fields to work at the nursery on a sessional basis. These include a Spanish teacher, a dancer and a gymnast. I have employed these not only to provide enhanced activities for the children, but to show practitioners that they can be involved in delivering a variety of activities to children beyond those normally provided at settings.

This is partly why I have such enthusiasm for a music project we have recently embarked upon with a professional violinist from the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Music plays a large part in my life and shapes the way I feel and think. As a child, I often used music to help me to learn and still, I find I work better with music in the background as I type (my self taught two finger typing) in time to the rhythm of the song. I share a love of music with the majority of the population, yet I have never seen a harp, held a brass instrument or strummed the strings on a chello, bass or fiddle. None of my colleagues can play an instrument and most would consider this related to class in that only the wealthy children were exposed to classical music at an early age and went on read music and play an instrument. In my 20 years of working in early years, all of my colleagues have been working class and none have played classical instruments. I know that this cannot provide a true representation of all early years practitioners, but in my experience, many people have missed out on the opportunity to experience classic musical first hand. There are volumes of studies on the positive impact that music has on child development and schools recognise this fact now and plan to include it in their curriculum. I wanted to see the impact this would have on the staff and children at our setting. I wanted to see how we would all experience music for the first time together. Adults, children, babies, verbal children, non verbal children and children who spoke no English, all explored this in silence and as one group.

October 2010

Having spoken to Joan, I started to really think about how each moment forms the characters we become. An early and vivid memory I have is of walking home from the shops with my Mum, me having the very responsible job of carrying the eggs while Mum carried the potatoes. Her bag split and the potatoes spilled out into the road. I remember her, red faced with embarrassment at having to pick the potatoes out of the gutter. There was no conversation and I remember just standing watching, slightly concerned about tonight’s egg and chips, but when I think back to that now, I feel a sense of responsibility and I suppose a bit of my Mum’s shame. Far worse things happened, such as waking up in the morning to find Mum unconscious, having been battered and then spending a week in hospital with a fractured skull while I stayed home with her boyfriend eating ravioli from a tin. (I’m sensing food issues here too) These certainly contribute to the guilt I feel now, but the incident with the potatoes signifies to me the completely normal things that occur in life and how children can interpret these. Somehow I blamed myself for the shame that my Mum felt, I thought I was responsible for her hardships and that guilt is now an everyday feeling for me. Having to line my shoes with cereal boxes to protect my socks from the holes in the soles means that now I feel really guilty about my children’s (quite unusually large) feet and spend at least 5% of my salary per month on new shoes for them, money I can ill afford. I know this is irrational and the children are not going to wear holes in their shoes, but I doubt myself. I doubt my ability to know what is best for my children as I believe deep down that I have failed to do my duty to improve the lives of other people in the past in particular my Mum. Her expectations of me were so high and she always told me how much she loved me and was proud of me, but I believed I wasn’t worthy of such love because I couldn’t see how I made her life better. I just saw her struggle with cooking cleaning and budgeting.

So now I get it. Nobody said I was worthless, I was told the opposite regularly, but my experiences and observations of life as a child moulded my soul. As practitioners we regularly say that children have brains like sponges, but do we realise exactly how much they are soaking up and how they are interpreting this information?

I have spoken to a practitioner in an appraisal about her plans for future training and she said that she wanted to enhance her skills in other areas as she couldn’t work in childcare forever. She even said “In ten years time, I wouldn’t want to say that I was a nursery nurse, that’s just embarrassing, it’s ok when you’re young, but it’s not really a career, doing the same thing year in and year out just with different kids” I have certainly found it difficult to recruit older practitioners. I also think that is part of the reason why there are fewer male practitioners.

I don’t think that view is so uncommon and I do believe that many people go into Early Years not because they value and understand the moment by moment opportunities to have a positive influence on a life, but because it is seen as an easy option or it would be fun. Maybe teenagers find themselves in a position where they haven’t had enough opportunities to ‘play’ and when they go on work experience in a nursery, they get to do just that, so it becomes an enjoyable experience. I have certainly seen young students engrossed in their own play long after the children have lost interest and moved on somewhere else…..

So I would like to explore further how our behaviour influences the behaviour of those around us. I would like to explore with practitioners their values and encourage them to also look at moments in their past which may effect their interaction with children. The idea that transforming yourself can help transform others is fascinating and setting aside the guilt I feel about nearly everything, I now know how understanding where I am coming from, can help me make better decisions in the future.

On my way to work at 6.30 on a cold winters morning, 8 months pregnant with my two year old daughter, my car broke down. I cried through frustration and tiredness, knowing I would have to carry my daughter back home to phone for help. This was no different from the potato incident, but who knows how my daughter may have interpreted my silence?

Practitioner A is 22 years old. She has a degree in Drama and Childhood studies and has worked in the nursery for a year, originally recruited to cover maternity leave and then given an extended contract. I spoke to practitioner A about her values, about what was important to her in her work and what she hoped her impact would be on the children in her key group. She said that she never had ambitions to work with children full time and was actually more interested in running drama groups with older children. However, since working in the nursery, for what she had originally anticipated a short period of time, she said that she felt as though she finally found where she was supposed to be. She explained that what she wanted was to provide children with a consistent adult who recognised their potential. She wanted children to understand that they were capable of great things and to never feel limited or restricted – in the setting and in life. She said she felt frustrated by the attitudes of other practitioners in the setting who didn’t value themselves or the potential of the children as she believes that it is their attitudes that have restricted their development and not circumstances.

Practitioner A said that she felt that she didn’t know why she felt so strongly about her values as she didn’t feel that this was something she learned from her parents. She said if anything, her parents splitting up when she was quite young meant that she was spoilt with toys and affection and never pushed. She said her childhood was all about fun with little regard for academic achievements. She said ‘in spite’ of this she achieved well in school, but felt that her parents were never proud of this. When, as a teenager she wanted a computer to help with her studies, her parents misunderstood and bought her a computer games console. She read this to mean that they did not believe she was academic and set out to prove them wrong.

Through her own reflection, Practitioner A came to the understanding that she has a constant drive and ambition to achieve the best she can to prove to herself and others that she is capable of reaching her full potential, and this is what she wants for the children in her care. As a colleague, I believe that she achieves this. She is a very hardworking practitioner who has a genuine bond with the children. She has recently embarked on the Pathway to achieve Early Years Professional Status and each day she becomes vibrant with her observations as she links them to the theoretical models she is researching in her own time. She meets children’s achievements with pride and recognition and understands the value of travelling slowly through various stages to successfully reach a goal, such time and recognition she doesn’t always give herself.

We have some issues with team dynamics at the nursery at the moment. The babyroom, consisting of five full time practitioners is a happy, positive place to be. The team work hard together and babies see adults being kind, respectful and supportive to each other. The babies are happy and their parents, on the whole are very happy with the care their children receive. The setting has two main rooms, one for under two’s and one for older two’s. The room with the older two’s is the room which has been having problems. There are six members of staff of whom two work full time and the other four job share. The newest member of staff has been there for two years and the oldest (in terms of length of service) has been there sixteen years. The team in this room is divided into two, (not physically or deliberately) with each group complaining about the other groups work standards and performance. Staff members in both groups have said they do not feel like coming into work at times, because of their relationship with another practitioner, but their love for the children has kept them returning.

I have spoken to all staff individually and given honest feedback on how to move forward for the sake of the children, but my concern is how the children interpret this whole situation. There is a negative atmosphere in this room and while practitioners are polite to each other, the mood can be quite strained at times.

I have a lot of thoughts about why this could be the case; Is communication and consistency an issue because of part time workers? Are there too many staff? (This wouldn’t happen in a classroom as there would be one teacher and she would have to just get on with her job) Am I not a positive role model?

What I think needs to be addressed is the impact this is having on the children and their families. I often say to staff that a child only has one chance to be a two year old, so let’s make it the best time they could have, but this is quite superficial and doesn’t address our personal role in the life of the child and how being who we are, not what we do, will have more of an impact on that child. When I think of great role models in my life, I don’t think of what she did for me or to me, but about who she was that inspired me. For that reason, I try to be the woman I want my daughter to grow up to be. I don’t mean I want her to be just like me, but I work hard, I try to be sensitive and understanding yet strong and assertive because that is what I want for her and I can’t teach it unless I am it. I think this may be the way forward for staff at the nursery. Practitioners can only ensure that their moment by moment interactions with children are positive experiences if the practitioner feels inspired, confident, valued and positive.

AHDC Collaborative Inquiry

Action Plan

Aim	Action to be taken	Who to be involved	When
1. To use the ideas that arise from conversations in a pro active way to improve practice at the nursery.	To provide more opportunities to meet and plan with E. Regular meetings to take place, recorded if possible with action points and responsibilities allocated.	C, E and K.	Monthly from 14 Dec
2. To improve the quality of staff and child interactions	To meet with staff to discuss the atmosphere and the role of the individual in creating a positive atmosphere. To discuss and establish a group ethos. To use Joan’s writing to help practitioners begin to understand their impact on children and value their role. To provide further opportunities for practitioners to engage in good quality one-to-one time with their key children in activities such as music, treasure baskets, yoga.	C to lead staff meeting C and E (possibly Phina)	14 Dec January 11 DTBC
3. Continuous support for practitioners in maintaining positive and enthusiastic attitudes to their work.	Formalise regular one-to-one meetings with staff to discuss workload and issues and provide support.	C and all staff monthly	Rolling programme beginning December
4. Provide an accurate record of findings and developments	Keep a diary of thoughts and observations	C	Immediately
5. Gain a greater understanding of the bigger picture with particular regards to the professionalism, practice and self confidence of people working in Early Years	Speak to practitioners further about their values and their reasons for embarking on this career Speak to parents and stakeholders about their view of good practice and whether they believe that we meet it.	C C	During one-to-ones Parents forum 15 Dec TBC
6. Seek evidence which supports the impact of the findings	Peer observations and child observations	C, E and K	Immediately

November 2010

My involvement in the AHDC Action Research Project.

I am really grateful to be involved in the Collaborative Research Project. I believe it is a privilege which will definitely impact on my practice, the practice of my colleagues, parents and ultimately the children.

I believe the process has provided me with a framework for reflective practice without the confines of judgement or consequence. By this, I mean that as a Nursery Manager, I often became bogged down by completing tick lists, charts and improvement plans to satisfy external organisations that documentation was up to date. The result of this was often paperwork for evidence sake and nothing else. Participating in this project has enabled me to focus purely on the impact that my practice has on the children. It has provided me with a structure for developing my skills and practice with the support of highly knowledgeable and understanding facilitators.

I firmly believe that this process has re-ignited my enthusiasm for working in this sector, as I can see that there are other likeminded people with equality and children’s social and emotional well-being at their hearts, and that there is a lot that I can gain from spending time with them.

There have been times over the past few months that I have considered leaving my job as I felt I was afforded less and less time to be with the children, but I recognise that being involved in the project will not only create a better environment for the children, but is a unique opportunity for me to be involved in something so new, different and important.