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

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Extract from final interview with Kim: MM: Kim: MM: Kim: How has this programme that you've attended been any different from other programmes or workshops that you may have attended in the past? Ja it was different from the many workshops rve attended over the years. Here you have educators coming from different schools, different environments with different experiences. There was a lot of scope for sharing of ideas, experiences, and it really exposed us. Where we had to do practical work, I found that very stimulating. . Did you find the workshops useful, beneficial? Can you explain how? I found the workshops useful, especially the group sessions, the interaction with educators from other schools and eh, in that way we were able to gauge the way they approached it and add it to our experiences. In the above extracts, teachers remarked on their positive experiences in the TEMS programme. Recurring sentiments were those of 'meeting people', 'working in a group', 'sharing ideas', 'participation', gaining knowledge and skills and networking. This was a reflection ofthe extent ofmutual engagement that had occurred in the TEMS programme. 7.5.2 Joint enterprise The extract from my journal cited in Section 7.3.1 above reflected the spirit that the TEMS co-ordinator Cindy and the core group ofresearch participants envisaged for the TEMS community. In the extract, Cindy, the co-ordinator emphasised the importance of pursuing the joint enterprise through the analogy ofgeese flying in formation. This was an appropriate message at the time and was supported by all teachers in the TEMS programme. The negotiation ofa joint enterprise that keeps a community ofpractice together is based on three premises (Wenger 1998). Firstly, the enterprise is a result ofa collective process ofnegotiation that reflects the full complexity ofmutual engagement; secondly, the enterprise is defined by the participants in the very process ofpursuing the enterprise; and thirdly, the enterprise creates among participants relations ofmutual accountability that become an integral part ofthe practice. In the TEMS project, the enterprise was personal and professional development in the field ofEMS education. 289
The following extract from a workshop observation report (16 April 2003) describes how teachers negotiated what they felt was important to them and what they wanted to achieve as a result ofparticipation in the TEMS programme. At the beginning, I asked teachers to constantly reflect on what they were getting out of the programme. I also questioned what they were expecting from the programme. They were clear about the fact that they wanted information on different EMS topics; they wanted to develop insights into the topics, a deeper understanding of the concepts related to the topic. They also wanted to explore pOSSible ways of teaching the topic to different grades. They also wanted some written material on the topic. While the TEMS study set out to deepen teachers' subject matter knowledge ofEMS, in their mutual engagement on issues and in discussions, the TEMS group often unconsciously shifted the emphasis as they negotiated their discussions. Wenger (1998:82) explains that defining a joint enterprise was a process and not a static agreement. It produces relations ofaccountability that are not just fixed constraints or norms. These relations are manifested not as conformity but as the ability to negotiate actions as accountable to the enterprise. A further discussion on the tension between competing expectations will be provided later. The third premise with regard to the negotiation ofthe joint enterprise refers to the ability ofthe enterprise to create participants' relations ofmutual accountability. In the next extract from a workshop observation report, we see John and Cindy's commitment as well as sense ofresponsibility to the TEMS programme. Extract ofworkshop observation report (August 2003): When I arrived at Eden primary, Cindy was ready for me as usual. I welcomed the glass of coke and the sandwich that was reserved for me near the ohp. I was glad to see that some teachers had arrived before me and were busy updating each other on developments since their last meeting. Cindy was juggling two commitments at the same time. Her pupils were involved in a chess tournament in the adjacent building. John had also transported his pupils to the chess tournament. He made a point informing me that he would drop off his pupils at his school but would definitely return for the workshop. I was thoroughly impressed with John's commitment. His school was about twelve kilometres away. He returned to make a valuable contribution to the workshop. John was always full of questions and was keen to 290
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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
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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
Page 254 and 255: In the next extract, Ben referred t
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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
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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 276 and 277: CHAPTER SEVEN AN ANALYSIS OF TEACHE
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: MM Shirley MM: Mary: MM: Mary Have
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
Page 314 and 315: hand, adopts a 'narrow' perspective
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
Page 326 and 327: for the purposes ofprofessional dev
Page 328 and 329: teacher growth. CPD in Africa subsc
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Page 334 and 335: 8.3.7 An arena for engaging and con
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Page 338 and 339: level conceptual thinking". They wa
Page 340 and 341: Collaboration within teacher learni
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Page 344 and 345: Bourdieu, P. (1986) The Forms ofCap
Page 346 and 347: Department ofEducation (2002) Revis
Page 348 and 349: Homan, R. (2002) The principle of i
Page 350 and 351: Mattson, L. (2000) Teacher identiti
Page 352 and 353: 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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