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

level conceptual thinking". They warn though, that "... inferring teachers' knowledge
from classroom observations and learner performance is no straightforward affair" (ibid:
138). They note that teachers with a poor knowledge base struggle to embrace new
approaches to knowledge and that this phenomenon was particularly prevalent amongst
teachers who worked in impoverished contexts.
A learning community approach to teacher development has much potential and is
increasing in popularity as indicated by Avalos (2004) who notes that there is growing
evidence of school initiated continuing professional development in which groups of
teachers collaborate to form and develop their own learning agendas. She cautions though
that a major factor impeding such initiatives is heavy teacher workloads that impact on
teachers' time for personal improvement.
While communities ofpractice hold immense promise as an approach to teacher
professional development, the model also carries many problems and dangers. Engaging
in collaborative activities ofa community ofpractice could become a superficial and
pointless exercise if the enterprise lacks purpose and direction and is disconnected from
the teaching and leaning process. Simply becoming a member ofa community ofteacher
learners for the sake ofjoining is a futile exercise. Another negative outcome is that
communities ofpractice can create a situation in which collaborating teachers could
become conformists. It could suppress individuality and could lead to groupthink
(Hargreaves 1995).
Contrived collegiality (Hargreaves 1994) can lead to situations that could suppress
teachers' desires to collaborate for professional development ifthis forced collaboration
degenerates into administratively controlled planning by official sources. If teacher
learning communities (clusters for example set up by DOE subject advisors) are used to
secure teachers' compliance with and commitment to external policy reform initiatives
which may be suspect, then collaboration within such communities will essentially serve
a co-optative function.
323