The knowledge building school: from the outside in, from the inside out

This paper will discuss and contrast the challenges faced by facilitators of practitioner research depending upon their location. While boundaries may be more flexible and permeable than often imagined, it is the case that the persons supporting and encouraging activist professionals in schools, can and should play a different role, depending upon their terms of engagement. The argument will be grounded in two case studies. In one instance the facilitator of research is Researcher in Residence, acting as an external consultant over a number of years; in the second instance the facilitator is a Director of Learning, who is using forms of practitioner research as the basis for professional development and school improvement. It is argued, that in both sites the schools are aspiring to become knowledge building organisations, where professional knowledge is constructed, critiqued and employed for school improvement.