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

for making bread. The difficulty and confusion arose when pupils and the teacher tried to
categorise the activities into the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors. Some children
were reprimanded for providing incorrect or partly correct answers. It was clear that the
concepts 'primary, 'secondary' and 'tertiary' were still unclear to the pupils
The teacher then asked pupils to select any two items of their choice and to repeat the
exercise of tracing back the component parts and categorising them into the different
sectors. Pupils were given the rest of the lesson to complete the task.
6.3.5.1.1 Commentary on the EMS content of the lesson
Ben had a poor knowledge ofthe EMS subject content he was teaching. His explanations
were unstructured and difficult to comprehend. He was unable to deal with
misconceptions and confusion that arose in the lesson, and his attempt at clearing up the
misconception about the distinction between the three sectors he was teaching actually
led to more confusion. In the reflection session, I enquired about the confusion with the
primary and tertiary sectors. Ben explained that the activities in the tertiary sector had
confused him and that he had to go back to his workshop notes.
The evidence from the transcripts indicates that Ben's 'content knowledge' and
'pedagogic content knowledge' ofthe EMS learning area was weak. Knowledge ofkey
economic concepts and phenomena was non-existent.
6.3.5.1.2 Commentary on the pedagogic approach to the lesson
In the lesson observation reflection session, Ben indicated that he did not keep formal
lesson preparation records. His comment was that it was 'in his head' and that because
'nobody sees it' there was no need to have it. "I know what I'm going to teach and Ijust
teach it, just teach it. There's no problem". Ben's unstructured approach to planning his
lessons and his decision not to prepare in writing for his lessons manifested itself in a
lesson that lacked direction and clear a purpose. Core content knowledge that was to be
taught in the above lesson came from the teacher whose knowledge thereofwas suspect.
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