In this article, the authors describe how an examination of teacher candidate inquiry projects led to an examination of their own experiences as teacher education practitioner-researchers and competing narratives about education research. They describe how in the process of doing research, they came to recognise how their experiences and methodological decisions impacted the process of their inquiry and the implications they could claim. Through a review of abstracts for inquiry projects created over the past ten years by interns in a professional development school English education program, they explore how the grand narrative of educational research may affect the meaning of inquiry and how this may have implications for teacher education. They argue for pragmatic approaches that foster an inquiry stance in teacher candidates as a way to position future educators as autonomous knowledge-makers who have a prominent role in education research.