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

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5.2.2 John's school: Neon Primary Neon primary was a former Ex-HOD school located in one ofthe poorer former Indian suburbs outside Durban. It had an enrolment ofthree hundred and thirty pupils. The teaching staff was made up ofIndian teachers. Although the school was relatively small, it had classes from grade one to grade seven. Individual class units were large, with average class sizes offorty-five pupils. Pupils came from basically two race groups. About sixty percent ofthe pupils were Indian pupils, with the remainder being Black Africans with Sotho, isiZulu or Xhosa as mother tongue. English was the medium of instruction. About five percent ofthe pupils came from very poor families living in informal settlements near the school. Most of the children, although not from affluent families, had most ofthe basic requirements for school. Neon primary had a pupil-feeding scheme. Disadvantaged pupils were provided with sandwiches on a daily basis. These were prepared by a local religious organization. The school encouraged children to make available their used uniforms and clothing to less fortunate pupils. The school had developed a good relationship with the local community and often had local dentists and doctors administer medical check-ups to children free of charge. The school buildings, being only eight years old, were in excellent condition. High razor . wire fencing surrounded the school. The school's electronic gates led into a huge car park. Gardens were immaculately maintained, with a just-watered look. Flowerbeds were freshly tilled. The school campus was in immaculate condition with a well-maintained sports field. On entering the foyer ofthe administration building, one was greeted with an appealing display ofwell-positioned posters, school achievement boards, and staff photographs. The foyer was spotless, with shiny floors and a shiny staircase. The school secretary was ideally positioned with a view ofthe school gate, which she could open electronically from where she was seated. The school was equipped with the basic necessary communication equipment, namely, a telephone, a fax machine and two computers. It did not have Internet facilities, but did have a well-equipped library. The 155
school regularly updated the books in the library. A library allocation was provided for in the annual school budget. The following extract from my journal (dated 12 March 2003) depicts the kind ofethos that existed at Neon Primary: The school secretary let me into the car park - electronic gate access. I made my way up to the admin foyer, thinking about how bright and appealing this school appeared compared to Pecan Primary's dark and gloomy foyer/reception area and dusty fields. The secretary greeted me and immediately informed the principal that I had arrived. The principal ofthis school always appeared to be very relaxed - always made time to stop and chat with me - enquiring about the university and 'the merger' [between the former University ofNatal and University of Durban-Westville] and the status ofmy research project. He appeared to have his school well under control. On arrival at the school, one gets the distinct impression that this school is well managed. During teaching time it was rare to find a teacher in the staffroom or children out oftheir classrooms. All classes were always supervised. As I walked through the school I could see teachers and pupils busily engaged in their classrooms. 5.3 HOW DID JOHN MAKE MEANING OF THE NEW EMS CURRICULUM? In the initial interview, each participant was asked a range ofquestions ranging from questions on biography to questions that tried to establish teachers' understandings ofthe new EMS curriculum and their expectations ofthe TEMS project. John indicated that although EMS was a new learning area, he believed that he had more knowledge about it than most teachers in other primary schools. He reflected on how he had attended a short course on consumer education about fifteen years previously. Although he could not find the actual documents from the course, he could still remember aspects ofthe course, which he was able to apply to his own teaching ofEMS. He said that he had a 'general' idea as to what EMS was all about. The following is an extract transcribed from his initial interview: MM 1 ; How would you describe your own knowledge of EMS? I MM refers to myself, Murthi Maistry, as the interviewer 156
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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
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new possibilities for meaning. Brok
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These characteristics indicate that
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engage with one another and acknowl
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A structural model ofa community of
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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 160 and 161: "Confidentiality involves a clear u
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: He received his schooling under the
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
Page 211: 6.2 SECTION ONE AN ANALYSIS OF TEAC
Page 214 and 215: understanding it at all. I just don
Page 216 and 217: In the final interview that took pl
Page 218 and 219: 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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