Thanks, Jack.  I am the Senior Researcher with the British Columbia Teachers' Federation (BCTF) in Vancouver, Canada.  The BCTF is the only teacher union in the province of BC and represents over 40,000 teachers in Kindergarten-Grade 12 public schools.
The BCTF has been involved in supporting teacher inquiry for some years, and this next year we are hoping to have at least ten projects across the province.  Last year we had over 200 teachers participating in union-led teacher inquiry.  We have a team of 18 facilitators who meet with Inquiry groups and these facilitators receive training in building and extending facilitation of teacher inquiry.
I completed my PhD at the University of British Columbia in 2007 which focused on teacher inquiry as professional development.  Another research interest is in teacher leadership where I have partnered with other teacher union and academic researchers in a number of countries including Australia, England, Scotland, the Republic of Ireland and the USA.  This work explores the nature of teacher leadership in professional development.

Cheers,

Charlie Naylor

-----Original Message-----
From: Practitioner-Researcher [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jack Whitehead
Sent: July 23, 2010 4:04 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: A note from the 2009-10 e-seminar convenor

Welcome to Naretha Pretorium, Rachel Perry and Charlie Naylor who have recently joined our e-seminar.

Dear Naretha, Rachel and Charlie - do please post a some details of your context and research interests.

Leo Chivers joined the e-seminar some time ago and here are some details of Leo's interests:


Leo is a  Senior Lecturer in Early Years and Professional Development in the School of Education at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK. Leo writes:

"I have previously worked as a leader and manager in Children’s Centres, Sure Start, health services and disability fields. This in turn led me to be involved in the delivery of programmes about the Leadership of Integrated practice (e.g. the NPQICL National Professional Qualification in Integrated Centre leadership). Much of my work has been about the leadership of reflective practice in inter-professional learning communities.

I am in my second year of an Ed.D. and my research is about contrasting the lived experience of inter-professional interactions with the outcomes – driven policy framework for children’s services in the UK.  I am using phenomenology as a way to explore this and to discover what types of learning helps develop awareness of these interactions.

I definitely feel I am operating at a  "beginner's stage" but have indeed been fascinated by some of the contributions made in this community and am sorry that I have lurked on the periphery for so long ."

Love Jack.