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

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"Confidentiality involves a clear understanding between the researcher and participant concerning how the data provided will be used. Confidential infonnation implies that the identity ofthe individual will remain anonymous ... and that the reader ofthe research will not be able to deduce the identity ofthe individual" (Anderson 1999:20). Confidentiality is intended to reassure participants that they can reveal what they otherwise might not, in order to help the researcher to understand their perspectives more fully, and with particular sensitivity to their feelings. It was clear that the principals ofthe participating schools had their own agendas. In three ofthe participating schools, the principals were eager to receive regular feedback on the progress ofthe project and would often ask questions relating to the progress and development ofthe teachers. One ofthe principals initially requested a quarterly written report on the project. I had to diplomatically explain that such a report was not possible, as it would compromise my relationship with the research participants. At this school, while the principal gave me free access to the school and teachers, some teachers were initially unwilling to allow me into their classes. They were content to attend the workshops but were uncomfortable to have me sit in on their lessons. These same teachers were also content to have me examine work they had already covered, worksheets, tests and examination papers. Even when the 'rules' originally negotiated do not turn out to be less stringent than expected, or more rigid and restrictive, access may still have to be negotiated (Delamont 2002). It became apparent that the level ofaccess was not what I had initially thought I had, and that I needed to develop and strengthen my relationship with these teachers. Although I had gone to great pains to explain that the lesson observations were strictly for research purposes and that teachers' anonymity, privacy and confidentiality would be respected, it was clear that I had to earn teachers' trust and not to be overzealous in my attempts to observe lessons. On several occasions these participants' appointments had to be rescheduled for reasons, which included personal commitments and plain failure to remember appointment dates and times. Delamont (2002) warns that a participant's rescheduling ofappointments may be a way 145
ofgently testing the researcher's keenness to obtain the data. It was also clear that my research study was not on their list ofpriorities. A break-through with this group ofteachers came when I was requested to provide assistance in developing a term plan for teaching EMS at their school. I successfully facilitated a brainstorming session with these teachers in which a tentative EMS curriculum was framed. It took a while for teachers to realise and understand that although I was engaged in a research project, I was also genuinely and sincerely interested in their development as EMS teachers and the development ofEMS at their schools. On one occasion, one ofthe research participants was particularly moved when I 'sought her out' to give her material she was desperately looking for. She remarked, "I can see that you are really into EMS ... thanks for thinking ofme." This was a critical incident in our relationship as I felt that I had made a significant breakthrough with this research participant. Critical incidents ofthis nature have a common characteristic, which Delamont (2002) refers to as 'genuine feelings' and that establishing rapport with participants is hard work. Personal attributes or actions can work to ease the process. These actions certainly helped strengthen my relationships with the teachers and facilitated access into schools and classrooms. There is always a "... structural tension between teachers and researchers, and additional problems may occur when there are differences ofrace, religion, gender ... or political views..." (Delamont 2002:149). I initially experienced some difficulty in establishing rapport with the African teachers in the study. A culture-clash between researcher and informants can affect rapport. I was Indian, they were, Black African; I was an 'observer' and they the 'observed'. Being a non-Isizulu speaking Indian male, researching in a semi-rural African school in KwaZulu-Natal created its own challenges. The fact that I did not speak the mother tongue ofboth the teachers at this school certainly affected rapport and access. In some ofour discussions, teachers would sometimes switch into isiZulu to clarify an issue amongst themselves, and then turn to me with a suggestion. This was particularly apparent when I was negotiating times for appointments and observations. Both teachers were aware ofthe fact that I did not understand isiZulu and 146
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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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persons and is not considered solel
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and offers insights into how learni
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America. Goodson (1992) and Calderh
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learned meaning and value for them
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'accommodation' and intimates that
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staffroom and a 'pragmatic' teacher
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Davisson (1984), Lumsden and Scott
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directive in that it guides choices
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economic discourse, the economics p
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• Understand and promote the impo
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2.7 CONCLUSION This chapter began b
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(Walford 2001; Anderson 1999). With
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• It places value on the research
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The main research question in this
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Lave and Wenger emphasise the centr
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3.3.2 The Work ofWenger (1998): Com
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agree with the way it takes place o
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Figure 3.3: Refined intersection of
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eflecting. The ability of a communi
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object to something that in reality
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practice is not just an aggregate o
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system or institution and the influ
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3.3.2.4 Learning Practice has to be
Page 109 and 110: new possibilities for meaning. Brok
Page 111 and 112: These characteristics indicate that
Page 113 and 114: engage with one another and acknowl
Page 115 and 116: A structural model ofa community of
Page 117 and 118: who were regarded as peripheral. A
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
Page 125 and 126: more useful and effective than part
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 163 and 164: were cordial and professional. The
Page 165 and 166: CHAPTER FIVE HOW HAD TEACHER LEARNI
Page 167 and 168: individual participants changed dif
Page 169 and 170: He received his schooling under the
Page 171 and 172: school regularly updated the books
Page 173 and 174: gone on to become really wealthy. I
Page 175 and 176: John noted that in planning the cur
Page 177 and 178: Significant changes had thus occurr
Page 179 and 180: just transfer it. For example, bank
Page 181 and 182: Extract from the lesson: John: Pupi
Page 183 and 184: schoolwork as 'economic work'. This
Page 185 and 186: John: Now we are not looking at thi
Page 187 and 188: cardboard and drawing or sticking i
Page 189 and 190: John: Now I want you to remember wh
Page 191 and 192: John succeeded in drawing on the sp
Page 193: at her maths books to which the tea
Page 196 and 197: issues that his pupils were raising
Page 198 and 199: 5.5 JOHN'S CHANGING PROFESSIONAL ID
Page 200 and 201: to achieve their joint enterprise o
Page 202 and 203: 5.6 JOHN'S INCREASED PARTICIPATION
Page 204 and 205: John regarded the close interaction
Page 206 and 207: As stated earlier, because the 'con
Page 209 and 210: 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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