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

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CHAPTER SEVEN AN ANALYSIS OF TEACHER LEARNING USING WENGER'S CONSTUCT 'COMMUNITY': LEARNING AS PARTICIPATION 7.1 INTRODUCTION This chapter presents an analysis ofthe TEMS community in terms ofWenger's fourth component oflearning, namely, community. I examine teachers' changing participation in the TEMS community. In Section 7.2, community membership is discussed using the concepts 'core' and 'periphery'. Section 7.3 analyses the development ofthe community in terms ofWenger et aI's five stages ofcommunity development. In Section 7.4, a discussion ofthe issues of 'community maintenance', 'communal resources' and 'brokering' is presented. Section 7.5 analyses the TEMS community in terms ofextent to which the community subscribed to the notions ofa 'shared repertoire', 'mutual engagement' and 'joint enterprise'. 7.2 AN ANALYSIS OF COMMUNITY MEMBERSmp: CORE AND PERIPHERALITY The expectation that all community members will participate equally in a teacher development programme is unrealistic. Participants fit into several categories and assume various roles within the community ofpractice, such as: a coordinator, who organises events and links community members; a core group ofactive participants who assume leadership roles; an active group offrequent but not regular participants; peripheral participants, members who occasionally take part; and 'lurkers' who learn from observation (Wenger, McDermott and Snyder 2002). It must be noted though, that the boundaries ofa community are fluid, allowing members to move from core to periphery or VIce versa. 261
Similar patterns ofuneven participation outlined in the theory above were reflected in the TEMS community ofteachers. These features are illustrated in the following table. Table 7.1: TEMS membership Type of Membership Typical Characteristics Number Organised events, sent out invitations, Co-ordinator administrative responsibilities, active membership but not a research participant 1 Active research participants involved in all Core group aspects ofthe study. Also assumed leadership 7 roles Non-research participants, but active members Active members in the TEMS community 4 Attended every alternate session - varied Alternates levels ofparticipation 6 Infrequent attendance - limited participation Peripheralsllurkers 4 Present at sessions for short duration to record Impressed volunteers their presence on the register - minimal 3 participation First time appearance at a workshop session - At least one New members participation levels and subsequent attendance new teacher varied _p_er session The TEMS community was a dynamic and constantly changing grouping ofEMS teachers. Cindy, an astute and esteemed member ofthe community, played the role of coordinator. She took on the administrative leadership responsibility ofthe community and was intent on fostering the development ofher colleagues. Wenger et al (2002) assert that the community co-ordinator is crucial to the community as she is a well respected member who helps the community focus on its enterprise and helps maintain relationships between members. 262
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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
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Ideally I would have wanted teacher
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they represent key ingredients in s
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that the Wenger framework presents
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more useful and effective than part
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3.6 CONCLUSION This chapter provide
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• While my professional input int
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• Cycle ofhypothesis and theory b
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observer played themselves out. A c
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organised events and linked communi
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In keeping with ethnographic princi
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In this qualitative study, my inter
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collection. He questions whether co
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physical context, the complex body
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completed, final text: rather, they
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the teacher over classroom events (
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'connoisseurship'. I realised that
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In this study, the criteria for the
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In Chapter One I described the sequ
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tactic by indicating to research pa
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On the occasions that I delivered b
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"Confidentiality involves a clear u
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were cordial and professional. The
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CHAPTER FIVE HOW HAD TEACHER LEARNI
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individual participants changed dif
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He received his schooling under the
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school regularly updated the books
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gone on to become really wealthy. I
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John noted that in planning the cur
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Significant changes had thus occurr
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just transfer it. For example, bank
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Extract from the lesson: John: Pupi
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schoolwork as 'economic work'. This
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John: Now we are not looking at thi
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cardboard and drawing or sticking i
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John: Now I want you to remember wh
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John succeeded in drawing on the sp
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at her maths books to which the tea
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issues that his pupils were raising
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5.5 JOHN'S CHANGING PROFESSIONAL ID
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to achieve their joint enterprise o
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5.6 JOHN'S INCREASED PARTICIPATION
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John regarded the close interaction
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As stated earlier, because the 'con
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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
Page 227 and 228: Teachers were able to describe the
Page 229 and 230: The essential differences between D
Page 231 and 232: Debbie's school, Eden Primary was l
Page 233 and 234: what he's saying. And in that lesso
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Page 237 and 238: Extract from first lesson observati
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Page 241: largely recall, repetition or were
Page 244 and 245: Third extract from Debbie's second
Page 247 and 248: From the above extracts and discuss
Page 249 and 250: with a new set ofsubjects. Without
Page 251: was three kilometres away from the
Page 254 and 255: In the next extract, Ben referred t
Page 256 and 257: for making bread. The difficulty an
Page 258 and 259: T: P: T: P: T: P: T: Look again. Is
Page 260 and 261: stemmed from a discussion at the TE
Page 263 and 264: Key to the table A = Good/substanti
Page 265 and 266: was doing the budget and where they
Page 267 and 268: ofher school and the TEMS community
Page 269 and 270: Extract from Beth's final interview
Page 271 and 272: fox the invitations and arrange for
Page 273: Table 6.6: Teachers' learning in te
Page 278 and 279: As we saw in Chapter Six, the core
Page 280 and 281: who did or did not want to become f
Page 283 and 284: The following extract offers a narr
Page 285 and 286: difficulties (ibid.). In the above
Page 287 and 288: A community moves from the potentia
Page 289 and 290: Cindy began the workshop with a tho
Page 291 and 292: oundaries" (Wenger et al 2002:97).
Page 293 and 294: 7.4 AN ANALYSIS OF THE TEMS GROUP A
Page 295 and 296: necessary to learn what they needed
Page 297 and 298: Figure 7.2: Brokering relationships
Page 299 and 300: the group. Wenger (1998) notes that
Page 301 and 302: knowledge ofothers. It is therefore
Page 303 and 304: MM Shirley MM: Mary: MM: Mary Have
Page 305 and 306: The following extract from a worksh
Page 307 and 308: MM: Shirley: How many EMS workshops
Page 309 and 310: Table 7.2: Criteria for the emergen
Page 311: Soudien, a leading South African ac
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Page 316 and 317: As mentioned earlier, Wenger's work
Page 318 and 319: literature review revealed that the
Page 320 and 321: Another important feature ofWenger'
Page 322 and 323: 'Identity' namely, 'learning as bec
Page 324 and 325: (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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