Leading Inquiry-Based Learning

This article focuses on the role of the school principal in curriculum leadership for inquiry-based learning. Drawing on data collected in a study of inquiry-based teaching and learning in an elementary school in a large Canadian city, and in particular on interviews with the school principal, we explore the important role of the principal in leading and sustaining inquiry in schools. We organize our presentation around three significant themes that emerged from our analysis: (1) the role of the principal's prior experience of inquiry-based teaching and learning practices, (2) explicating the nature of the work of the principal in leading inquiry-based teaching and the dilemmas of that work, and (3) the (principally systemic) elements of the educational working environment that detract from efforts to enact and sustain inquiry in schools.