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

who were regarded as peripheral. A homogenous group ofteachers was not a prerequisite
for establishing a learning community. The idea that the existence ofa community of
practice did not depend on fixed membership was useful in understanding the evolving
structure ofthe learning community. The issue ofvaluing the work of community
building where individuals act as resources to the community is an important assertion
made by Wenger that helped shape the teacher development programme. The idea that an
'imported repertoire' can be introduced into a community where the repertoire was non­
existent was particularly useful in the establishment ofthe teacher development project
that took root in the fledgling EMS teachers group. Wenger's conceptualisation of
communities ofpractice that could bridge institutional boundaries was especially useful
in that it sanctioned the establishment ofthe teacher development programme across
schools, thus drawing on teachers from several schools in the selected geographical area.
The concept of 'community maintenance' was crucial in recognizing factors that
contributed to sustaining the teacher development programme.
With regard to data collection and analysis, Wenger's theory provided useful conceptual
tools that guided and focussed data collection and its subsequent analysis. Wenger's
conceptualisation oflearning as constituting four elements, namely, meaning, practice,
identity and community presented distinct conceptual tools that helped shape the data
collection instruments and the analysis ofthe data that was generated. Key conceptual
tools that were also used included that of 'brokering', 'boundary', 'community
maintenance', 'community coherence', 'mutual engagement', 'shared repertoire', 'joint
enterprise', and 'participation and reification'. The conception that communities of
practice should not be considered in isolation, but that participants' (teachers')
trajectories, biographies and individual teaching contexts were crucial to understanding
teacher learning, certainly influenced data collection and analysis in this research project.
Finally, the TEMS project was used to reflect on Wenger's theory and its applicability to
a teacher learning community given that Wenger downplays pedagogy and emphasises
learning, a departure from the conventional teacherlleamer dyad.
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