Teacher Learning in a Community of Practice: A Case Study of ...

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The focus ofthe theory is on the components that are necessary to make a community function in the work environment, especially in what they term "the knowledge economy" (Wenger et aI, 2002:6). They argue that communities ofpractice are an effective way ofmanaging knowledge and explain the importance and necessity ofthis management ofknowledge in the modern rapidly changing global economy. Knowledge management needs to become more systematic and deliberate. Knowledge has a collective nature and involves every person contributing a perspective to a problem. A community ofpractice allows for the connection ofisolated pockets ofexpertise across an organisation The concept of 'cultivating' communities ofpractice is used by referring to the analogy ofa plant that does its own growing irrespective ofhow its germination had occurred. Just as it is not possible to pull the components (stem and leaves) ofa plant to make it grow faster, it is also not possible to force a community ofpractice to grow. They note however, that much can be done to encourage the healthy growth ofa community of practice. While some communities ofpractice grow spontaneously, others require careful seeding. It is important to value the learning that takes place in communities ofpractice, by making time and resources available for their work, encouraging participation and removing barriers (Wenger et al 2002). What follows is a list of some ofthe benefits ofcommunities ofpractice to its members as suggested by Wenger et al (more or less verbatim)(Wenger et al 2002: 16). They: Help with challenges Provide a forum for expanding skills and access to expertise Develop abilities to contribute to a team and keeping abreast ofthe field Develop confidence in approach to problems Provide a sense ofbelonging and enhances professional reputations Allow for more meaningful participation Allow for increased marketability and employability Develop a strong sense ofprofessional identity 99
A structural model ofa community ofpractice is proposed. It suggests that a community ofpractice is a combination ofthree fundamental elements, namely, a domain, a community and practice (Wenger et al2002). 3.3.3.1 Domain The concept domain is an extension ofwhat Wenger previously referred to as 'joint enterprise' (Wenger 1998). Domain refers to the core business or set ofissues or common ground that creates the identity ofthe community ofpractice. It is what inspires members to participate and contribute to the community ofpractice by guiding their learning and giving meaning to their actions. Members decide what is worth sharing and which activities to pursue. They become accountable to a body ofknowledge and to the development ofa practice. Members decide what matters. The domain therefore guides the way they organize their knowledge. "What creates ... common ground, the domain of a community is its raison d'etre" (Wenger et al 2002:31). 3.3.3.2 Community Here, Wenger's concept of 'mutual engagement' (Wenger 1998) is presented as the concept 'community'. It is described as creating the 'social fabric oflearning' (Wenger et al2002:28) and refers to regular interactions and valuable relations that are based on mutual respect and trust. Learning is a matter ofbelonging. Communities ofpractice can take on various sizes, but requires a 'critical mass' ofpeople (ibid.). Participation is voluntary. The success of a community ofpractice depends on the energy that the community generates and distributed internal leadership. Recognized experts help legitimise the community's existence but may not necessarily be the one's who bring the community together. Every community develops a unique atmosphere that could either be intense, or laid back, formal or informal and either hierarchical or democratic. The focus however is on collective inquiry (Wenger et al2002). 100
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Teacher Learning in a Community of
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ABSTRACT Conceptualising teacher le
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DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated
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DECLARATION I, Suriamurthee Moonsam
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ASSOCIATED CONCEPTS UNDER STUDY WIT
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Observation ofJohn's teaching after
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A SYNTHESIS OF THE STUDy...........
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TEMS RNCS EMS GET DoE INSET ELRC SA
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In describing the subject-pedagogy
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teachers lacked content knowledge r
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acknowledges the importance and pec
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some formal Mathematics teacher edu
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study, the coordination functions w
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It foregrounds the fact that the co
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school. Higher education opportunit
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frame models for projecting future
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teacher education by the state, (as
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schools, classrooms, management and
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Although the Teacher Audit indicate
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One ofthe first curriculum reform i
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entrenched design feature of C2005,
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In Chapter Five, I set up a narrati
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LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 INTRODUCTION
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As indicated in the previous chapte
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This view is supported by Putman an
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Learning is social in nature (Putma
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Constant reflection on and understa
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Teachers drew on their membership i
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The above arguments about the lack
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change. She highlights the importan
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Differences in the cultures oflearn
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Page 81 and 82: • Understand and promote the impo
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Page 85 and 86: (Walford 2001; Anderson 1999). With
Page 87 and 88: • It places value on the research
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Page 91 and 92: Lave and Wenger emphasise the centr
Page 93 and 94: 3.3.2 The Work ofWenger (1998): Com
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Page 97 and 98: Figure 3.3: Refined intersection of
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Page 107 and 108: 3.3.2.4 Learning Practice has to be
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Page 113: engage with one another and acknowl
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Page 119 and 120: Ideally I would have wanted teacher
Page 121 and 122: they represent key ingredients in s
Page 123 and 124: that the Wenger framework presents
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Page 127 and 128: 3.6 CONCLUSION This chapter provide
Page 129 and 130: • While my professional input int
Page 131 and 132: • Cycle ofhypothesis and theory b
Page 133 and 134: observer played themselves out. A c
Page 135 and 136: organised events and linked communi
Page 137 and 138: In keeping with ethnographic princi
Page 139 and 140: In this qualitative study, my inter
Page 141 and 142: collection. He questions whether co
Page 143 and 144: physical context, the complex body
Page 145 and 146: completed, final text: rather, they
Page 147 and 148: the teacher over classroom events (
Page 149: 'connoisseurship'. I realised that
Page 152 and 153: In this study, the criteria for the
Page 154 and 155: In Chapter One I described the sequ
Page 156 and 157: tactic by indicating to research pa
Page 158 and 159: On the occasions that I delivered b
Page 160 and 161: "Confidentiality involves a clear u
Page 163 and 164: were cordial and professional. The
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CHAPTER FIVE HOW HAD TEACHER LEARNI
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individual participants changed dif
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He received his schooling under the
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school regularly updated the books
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gone on to become really wealthy. I
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John noted that in planning the cur
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Significant changes had thus occurr
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just transfer it. For example, bank
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Extract from the lesson: John: Pupi
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schoolwork as 'economic work'. This
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John: Now we are not looking at thi
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cardboard and drawing or sticking i
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John: Now I want you to remember wh
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John succeeded in drawing on the sp
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at her maths books to which the tea
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issues that his pupils were raising
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5.5 JOHN'S CHANGING PROFESSIONAL ID
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to achieve their joint enterprise o
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5.6 JOHN'S INCREASED PARTICIPATION
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John regarded the close interaction
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As stated earlier, because the 'con
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CHAPTER SIX USING WENGER'S CONSTRUC
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6.2 SECTION ONE AN ANALYSIS OF TEAC
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understanding it at all. I just don
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In the final interview that took pl
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MM: Shirley: learning outcomes and
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the little things like we started i
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understandings and conceptions ofth
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Extract from Mary's final interview
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Teachers were able to describe the
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The essential differences between D
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Debbie's school, Eden Primary was l
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what he's saying. And in that lesso
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they were excellent, really good. I
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Extract from first lesson observati
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out of the material that they had.
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largely recall, repetition or were
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Third extract from Debbie's second
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From the above extracts and discuss
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with a new set ofsubjects. Without
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was three kilometres away from the
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In the next extract, Ben referred t
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for making bread. The difficulty an
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T: P: T: P: T: P: T: Look again. Is
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stemmed from a discussion at the TE
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Key to the table A = Good/substanti
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was doing the budget and where they
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ofher school and the TEMS community
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Extract from Beth's final interview
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fox the invitations and arrange for
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Table 6.6: Teachers' learning in te
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CHAPTER SEVEN AN ANALYSIS OF TEACHE
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As we saw in Chapter Six, the core
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who did or did not want to become f
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The following extract offers a narr
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difficulties (ibid.). In the above
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A community moves from the potentia
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Cindy began the workshop with a tho
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oundaries" (Wenger et al 2002:97).
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7.4 AN ANALYSIS OF THE TEMS GROUP A
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necessary to learn what they needed
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Figure 7.2: Brokering relationships
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the group. Wenger (1998) notes that
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knowledge ofothers. It is therefore
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MM Shirley MM: Mary: MM: Mary Have
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The following extract from a worksh
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MM: Shirley: How many EMS workshops
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Table 7.2: Criteria for the emergen
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Soudien, a leading South African ac
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hand, adopts a 'narrow' perspective
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As mentioned earlier, Wenger's work
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literature review revealed that the
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Another important feature ofWenger'
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'Identity' namely, 'learning as bec
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(Hargreaves 1995). Teacher professi
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for the purposes ofprofessional dev
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teacher growth. CPD in Africa subsc
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knowledge of subject content is ser
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South Africa, due cognisance must b
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8.3.7 An arena for engaging and con
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the provision of appropriate profes
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level conceptual thinking". They wa
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Collaboration within teacher learni
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has for teacher learning in a South
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Bourdieu, P. (1986) The Forms ofCap
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Department ofEducation (2002) Revis
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Homan, R. (2002) The principle of i
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Mattson, L. (2000) Teacher identiti
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Smylie, M.A., Bay, M. & Tozer, S.E.
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Westheimer,1. (1998) Among schoolte
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APPENDIX 2 INTERVIEW SCHEDULES (INI
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2. What information have you been g
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APPENDIX 3 EXAMPLE OF JOURNAL ENTRI
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APPENDIX 5 EXAMPLE OF INDEPENDENT O
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