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

Extract from Beth's final interview:
MM:
Beth:
MM:
Beth:
Have you made any contacts with other teachers from other schools?
Yes, with the Kwamanzini people. We agreed that we are going to meet this
year, so that next year we got a programme where we say that we can meet
at least once a month so that we can have other educators because there
are so many educators that are needing this kind of help and workshops. And
I myself have found the workshops quite much useful, because I do not have
an economic background. You will find that there are some educators who
are saying that I am teaching EMS but I do not understand and also I don't
know what to do. And you tell them, come and see me and I can just explain
things to them, so they can teach something, you know, they can teach some
EMS. They may try to understand it as well because in some schools the
principals don't like to say that teachers can just leave the children and they
can attend. There were teachers who approached me at Clermont. She said
that she is teaching EMS but she is not clear enough with EMS but I
promised to help her. I gave her some of the books and the materials that
we got from the workshops. I made arrangements and agreed that we must
meet at least once a month. We need to network so that we can help
ourselves.
What opportunities have these workshops opened up for you?
(laughs a long laugh) Well I think I can now be a facilitator, but I'm not quite
sure with that. But at least there are things I can help, because as were
talking with the educators at Kwadengezi and Kwamanzini that we must try
to meet and do some networking, so that we can help other educators in
other schools. So its quite clear to me and them that if we just invite these
people and explain to them what EMS is so that at least they can
understand. So we can start right from the introduction, right from the
beginning. At least for me I can just share what I learnt with others.
In the next extract from Beth's final interview, we see how Beth's status and position in
her school had strengthened as a result ofher EMS activities at her school. She described
herself as taking the lead in discussions with the school on matters concerning EMS.
Whereas in the past she would rely on Ben to communicate through the head of
department information to the principal about EMS activities, Beth felt empowered to
communicate directly with the principal on matters concerning EMS.
Her school serviced a very poor community and often ran into financial difficulties
because ofparents' inability to pay school fees. She described how EMS projects
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