Collaborative inquiry: a means of creating a learning community

Abstract

This article reports on a case study of a collaborative research process undertaken by a principal, kindergarten parents and a college researcher. Facilitated by the school principal and by a college faculty member, parents engaged in a year-long inquiry about their children’s kindergarten experience. They kept journals over the course of the year, chose excerpts to share with other parents during parent meetings, analyzed these excerpts for common themes, and created and performed a readers’ theater script as a way of presenting what they learned to other parents. This project is one example of how a school can invite parents into the school’s learning community. Participating parents reported significant learnings about their child’s development and about school programs. The small number of participants (20% of the kindergarten class each year) suggests that this is just one way to induce parents to participate as learners with schools. Questions related to issues of a school’s leadership and culture, culturally sensitive parent participation processes, and parents’ ability to juggle multiple responsibilities in the ever quickening pace of today’s society need to be further explored.