Appreciative Inquiry in education, in the service of success

Although this book is based on the experience of a day of reflection with more than 275 managers in the educational resources departments of Quebec's school service centers, it is aimed at all school players: principals, teachers and professionals.

Modeling the appreciative inquiry approach becomes the common thread in this reflection on certain issues in education (data culture, professional insertion, leadership, school climate, vocational training and general adult education). With the aim of combining theory and practice, we illustrate the approach by using examples to create typical situations. The latter highlight the three themes of collaboration, inclusion and monitoring in relation to the aforementioned issues, crossed with the notions of transformational leadership and differentiated management. From the presentation of theoretical concepts (chapter 1), the operationalization of the approach (chapter 2) and the analysis of reflections within the various workshops (chapter 3), certain findings emerge:

• The interrelationship between data culture (qualitative or quantitative monitoring) and transformational leadership supports the evolution of a metacognitive and reflexive process regarding the choice of actions to be implemented in response to the reality of the environment; this presupposes the development of an affirmative, critical and constructive dialogue to support organizational transformation in a data culture context; ;
•  Differentiated management, whose processes are interwoven into a flexible structure based on specific content, ensures that real organizational transformation is achieved through a process of continuous improvement and professional development for all; ;
• Transformational leadership rallies the players around a shared vision and objectives formulated by all according to the strengths and vitality on which the group relies to move forward and mobilize in the sense of developing collective intelligence, with the aim of transforming issues into opportunities for organizational transformation.

Thus, we hypothesize that such a process of appreciative inquiry over time and iterations can support the transformation of Quebec school organizations in the sense of the Mouvement CAR: collaborate, learn and succeed.