The Research and Practice-Based Enquiry (RPBE) module begins with an inductive approach to looking at research. Participants work together to construct an understanding of the relationship between research and their professional practice. This includes an exploration of what the relationship currently is, what it might be and how practitioner research might play a part in developing or influencing professional practice. (Key questions posed are ‘What is the value of research in education?’ and ‘What is good education research?’). These questions and issues are considered in relation to specific contexts and practices and a research proposal for a practitioner enquiry, that will be undertaken in the spring and/or summer term, is developed. The module begins in the autumn term with an initial face-to-face discussion based on a starter task. The research-based learning is then extended by asking participants to engage with relevant issues and concepts through two online discussions, ‘What is the value of research in education?’ and ‘What does good educational research look like?’ The taught sessions at the beginning of the module consist partly of tutors presenting material to stimulate discussion, reflection and analysis, and partly of participants sharing their reflections on using and undertaking research in their own practice. After the start of your engagement with the module you will be allocated a supervisor who will agree the focus of your practice-based enquiry with you and provide support and guidance. Your practice-based enquiry will be a highly focused, small-scale research project. At the beginning of the second term of the module, you will present your emerging practice-based research ideas and research proposals to your peers and tutors in a face-to-face session and receive feedback to help you develop your proposal. Once undertaken your practice-based enquiry will be written up as a report or dissertation. The report is 9,000 words in length and has a credit value of 30 credits. The longer dissertation, the result of a larger project, is 18,000 words or 60 credits. The report will communicate to its readers the enquiry you have undertaken, the choices and decisions made regarding the design and the conducting of your enquiry, it will present the enquiry context, findings and conclusions and will include some reflection on the professional learning you have achieved through conducting your enquiry. The dissertation will have a more developed engagement with academic and research literature as well as a more extended discussion of findings and implications. If you choose to do a report you will have the opportunity to choose another specialised option from a wide range open to you and this is one of the reasons for choosing to do a report. We encourage participants to do a report unless they have a particular interest in engaging deeply with a range of academic and research literature in their topic area and in working with and reflecting on their data and findings in some depth. This is a mixed mode module consisting of online tasks and some face-to-face sessions.