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

Soudien, a leading South African academic and researcher, goes on to present a challenge
to South African researchers, namely, "(h)ow do we write in ways that will subvert the
power that comes with the language ofrace?" (ibid.). In his review ofresearch in the field
of school integration, he asserts that the 'race scape' is still a dominant category of
analysis in South Africa and notes that "(r)ace ... becomes the almost unchallenged lens
through which South African difference is understood" (ibid.: 110). It is therefore not
unreasonable to expect that in South Africa, some researchers may still focus on race as
their default mode. However, the views ofthe independent observers are important as
they suggest the extent ofparticipation within the community may have been uneven
along racial lines. This could be viewed as a weakness in Wenger's theory (Wenger
1998). His framework is somewhat limited in helping us understand issues of language
and race as they apply to a South African teacher learning community that may comprise
teachers from diverse race and language backgrounds. Wenger does, however, offer the
concept of 'peripheral participation' (ibid.) as an analytical tool. In a South African
teacher education context characterised by the historically marginalized African teachers,
the phenomenon ofAfrican teachers enacting/adopting peripheral positions in a teacher
learning community should not be viewed as an unusual phenomenon. Rather, facilitators
ofcommunities ofpractice should be sensitive to it.
It must be noted that teachers in the TEMS community came from schools that were
homogenous in terms ofrace, that is, all participating schools had teaching staff
compositions that were either all Black African, or all Indian. Deep divisions and
segregation are still features of South African education. In her analysis ofthe challenges
of teacher education in South Africa, Adler (2002) notes that apartheid had produced a
grossly unequal society and damaged the essential fabric ofsociety. The issue ofrace
and its barriers to engagement is a complex one. 'Inadequate' English language
proficiency is certainly a barrier. A more compelling factor is an issue that Adler (ibid.)
reminds us about and that is that apartheid education and apartheid teacher education in
particular produced Black African teachers with a knowledge base that "was inadequate
... from which to proceed and grow in post-apartheid South Africa" (ibid.:8). There is
296