For this post, I am responding to an article written by Lupton (2014).

Lupton, M. (2014). Inquiry Skills in the Australian Curriculum v6: A bird’s eye view. Access, 28(4), 8-29.

I have been a primary teacher for almost 10 years now and truly, since I have been in the TL role only this year, I have really come to be aware of the “indepthness’ of inquiry in the Australian Curriculum. The way inquiry skills are embedded throughout several key learning areas has made me question my approach to teaching and learning and how much of a focus on inquiry I have had the last several years (minimal).

Lupton highlights several key points:

– one massive advantage of being in the TL role means I get to see the curriculum from a bird’s-eye-view. The TL has a whole-of-curriculum responsibility.

– The TL plays a vital role in strengthening the gaps that appear in classroom teaching of inquiry skills and information literacy.

– The TL has the advantage of embedding scientific, historic and geographical inquiry skills across their teaching and learning program, further improving classroom teacher programs.

Having an IL model in school will provide a scaffold for teaching and learning that makes inquiry skills and information literacy a focus that is approached with consistency and competence. Having an IL model also greatly assists students in understanding the process they journey through when engaging in inquiry based learning.