Leafap Erasmus+ participated in the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER) “Charting the way forward: Education, Research, Potentials and Perspectives” which took place in Belgrade, Serbia, 8-12 September 2025.
Our Greek partner, Professor Sofia Avgitidou from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki had the opportunity to share LEAFAP’s developments with colleagues from different countries regarding the facilitation of professional learning communities (PLCs) based on inquiry-based and reflective practices.
Her ECER session—“Facilitating the Facilitators of Professional Learning Communities through Inquiry and Reflection”—introduced the roles and processes of inquiry and reflection in PLCs and presented a LEAFAP training programme designed for both internal facilitators (head teachers) and external facilitators (school advisors). Two small cohorts (five head teachers and four school advisors) took part in four three-hour workshops that applied concrete inquiry and reflection tools; data were gathered through an observation protocol with thematic categories, fieldnotes by the author and a critical friend, post-session questionnaires combining Likert items and open questions, and written reflections, followed by qualitative coding (open/axial) and descriptive analysis of closed items.
Initial, work-in-progress findings indicate that participants began to question their own facilitation beliefs and practices, shifting from a chiefly managerial or consensus-keeping stance toward a more supportive, evidence-informed approach that emphasises documentation, dialogic guidance, and the purposeful use of inquiry/reflective tools; importantly, facilitators noted a move away from decisions grounded mainly in personal beliefs toward examining causes, considering alternatives, and linking reflective dialogue to actionable change in schools.
