Abstract
In South Africa, the introduction of inquiry-based instruction has met with a lot of challenges, such as the poor training of teachers in the face of accelerated curriculum reform. Teacher training has been plagued with traditional “one-shot” approaches to professional development that are inadequate and do not provide teachers with opportunities for immediate and direct application of what they have learnt (Zakaria & Daud, 2009).
I worked with a Grade 9 Natural Science teacher with the goal of improving the quantity and quality of inquiry-based instruction implemented in the classroom, by employing empowerment evaluation approach to teacher development. The professional development experience was informed by the 4Ex2 instruction model, which combines key components of inquiry instruction (Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend) with formative assessment and reflective practice integrated into each of the inquiry components. By employing the Electronic Quality of Inquiry Protocol (EQUIP) a classroom observation tool, I conducted six classroom observations, assessing the teacher on 19 indicators associated with inquiry spreading over four constructs: Instruction, Curriculum, Discourse and Assessment.
The current study investigated conceptions the teacher held with regard to inquiry-based teaching and learning, and attempted to shift the Natural Sciences teacher’s instructional approach towards inquiry instruction, by employing the concept of empowerment evaluation. The data was collected using interviews and lesson observations with one teacher from a rural school setting.
Findings from this study show that the teacher held positive views of the inquiry-based approach, but felt that its classroom practice suffered negatively from a number of challenges, primarily lack of teacher confidence due to poor training. The findings also reveal that through empowerment evaluation, teacher practices in the classroom can shift towards an inquiry-based approach.
M.Ed.