Using appreciative inquiry to value teachers’ professionalism

JONATHAN KEAY, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION AND DEPUTY CEO, CREATIVE LEARNING PARTNERSHIP TRUST, UK  DI SWIFT, ASSOCIATE LECTURER IN PRIMARY EDUCATION, THE OPEN UNIVERSITY, UK Introduction The purpose of the Creative Learning Partnership Trust (CLPT) is to create transformational educative opportunities in a shared culture of collaboration. CLPT is determined to realise this expectation, not only for the learners and communities that it serves across its growing partnership of primary, middle and special schools in Staffordshire, but also for all members of staff. The term ‘transformational’ signifies the Trust’s deliberate intention that educational opportunities should transform understanding.  Transformational professional development inspires and motivates teachers by making explicit the scholarship and debates that inform pedagogic choices, whereas transactional approaches simply train the teacher in a replicable technique. While teachers do need to develop a repertoire o