Self-Study of Practice Methodologies and Thriving Communities

Through the self-study of practice, teachers transform not only their understandings about themselves, their students, and the contexts within which they teach, but also their ways of being in the world. This work is as much ontological as epistemological.

-Cher Hill


I am a passionate advocate of empowering educators as creators of knowledge through practitioner-inquiry. Through research into our own practices as educators, we complexify our understandings of the specific contexts in which we teach and can better respond to the communities that we serve.

I have supported teachers in inquiring into their own practice as educators for over 15 years and regularly study my own practice through collaborative practice-based and self-study methodologies. Through inquiry into how we carry our work as educators, we develop an inner compass that guides complex decision-making, and begin to challenge the structures of schooling that do not serve the needs of students, contributing to more thriving communities.

“What becomes of the curriculum when learning involves searching for untold stories embedded within the land that are not in books and cannot be easily googled?”

Related Publications

Hill, C., Sivia, A., Kelly, V., Rosehart, P, & Keliipio, K. (2023). “Self” in self-study: Alongside stories as Indigenously understood inquiry. In Education, 29 (3).53-76. https://doi.org/10.37119/ojs2024.v29i3.767
Hill, C., & MacDonald, M. (2022). Working in a ‘community engaged’ university during an era of reconciliation. In G. Parr, A. Fitzgerald, & J. Williams (Eds.). Educational Work: Special Issue of the Australian Educational Researcher, 49, 547–569. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-022-00531-6
Evans, N. & Hill, C. (2024). The infinite potential within educative spaces: Kairos Moments and Quantum Leaps. Canadian Journal of Action Research, 24,(2), 3-17. https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1111686ar
Hill, C., MacDonald, M., & Tan, P. (2021). Living life as inquiry: Labouring and (grand)parenting with/in the Academy. In E. Lyle & S. Mahani (Eds.) Sister scholars: Untangling issues of identity as women in academe (pp. 183-194). DIO Press
Hill, C. & Piersol, L. (2018). The Transformative Becomings of a Nature-based Educator. In E. R. Lyle (Ed.). Fostering a relational pedagogy: Self-study as transformative praxis (pp. 56-70). Sense.
MacDonald, M., & Hill, C. (2018). The intersection of pedagogical documentation and teacher-inquiry: A living curriculum. LEARNing Landscapes, 11(2), 271-286. https://doi.org/10.15402/esj.v5i1.67848
Hill, C. (2019). Mad I’m mad: Parental-inquiry as wayfaring. SFU Ed Review, 12(1), 52-67. https://doi.org/10.21810/sfuer.v12i1.679
Hill, C. M., (2017). More-than-reflective practice: Becoming a diffractive practitioner. eacher Learning and Professional Development, 2(1), 1-17. https://journals.sfu.ca/tlpd/index.php/tlpd/article/view/28