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

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Collaboration within teacher learning communities can lead to what Hargreaves (1995) refers to as 'incestuous professionalism' if such learning communities exclude significant other role players in education such as pupils and parents. Iflearning communities are considering new innovations in assessment for example as a focus ofCPD, then it is important to involve both parents and pupils in its development instead ofcreating anxiety and suspicion by simply foisting completed plans on pupils and parents. Similarly, ifteacher learning communities that comprise teachers from different schools formulate plans that are not congruent with the ideas ofindividual schools from which teachers originate, then affected teachers in the learning community are unlikely to receive sympathy and support from their own schools. The context ofeducation and teacher education in particular has become quite confusing and chaotic. Plurality and diversity are likely to result in disjointed and dissonant perspectives and aspirations. Miscommunication and misunderstanding, lack of consensus or common ground about the purpose ofteacher professional development or the intentions ofpolicy reform could result in voluntary formations like teacher learning communities exercising almost complete discretion over their individual enterprises resulting in 'inappropriate' or 'unacceptable' divergences and disparities. In other words, individual learning communities may end up basically 'doing their own thing' that may n()t articulate with that ofother learning communities or generally accepted policy reform. Sustaining communities ofpractice over time is perhaps the most serious challenge. In teacher development, the task would be to motivate and obtain commitments from a wide array ofparticipants. Balancing teachers' short-term needs with the community's long term goals is an issue that teacher education planners must consider, an issue which Grossman et al (2001) cite as an important tension that must be negotiated by teacher learning communities. Thought must be given to identifying methods for generating and sharing knowledge with a wider audience and allocating time and resources to all ofthese efforts. The organised sharing ofideas that emerge from communities ofpractice and developing strategies for documenting and disseminating new ideas and 'products' (new 325
curriculum materials etc.) are key issues that will determine the long-term survival ofthe community. The sustainability ofteacher learning communities depends on significant levels oftrust and the development ofnew types ofrelationships between teachers and teacher developers (Day and Sachs 2004). Communities ofpractice have sufficient promise to warrant development on the part of education authorities. Such innovations however need to be monitored by research activity. The lack ofresearch in the area ofcommunities ofpractice as a vehicle for teacher professional development however, means that there are a number ofimportant questions that need answering: What is the best way to orient new members to a community? Is there an optimal size for a community ofpractice to promote professional growth? How are administrative and coordination functions negotiated? How effective are various community configurations? Muijs, Day, Harris and Lindsay (2004) note that teacher development evaluation models need to be mindful ofthe complex relationship between teacher learning, pupil learning, school improvement and other pertinent factors that influence teacher development. Further research is needed to understand the conditions that enhance and sustain collaborative structures among teachers. Teacher developers need information on how to recognise communities ofpractice among teachers. The challenge is to move loose networks ofteachers from their present state towards becoming more effective communities ofpractice. There needs to be a concerted effort to create communities ofpractice for teacher professional development (Wesley and Buysse 2001). 8.4 CONCLUSION This research study set out to investigate Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) teachers' learning, through participation in a teacher learning programme designed to enhance participation in a community ofpractice. It explored the usefulness ofsocial practice theory (in particular the work ofLave and Wenger, 1991 and Wenger, 1998) in explaining the nature ofteacher learning in relation to their participation in a community ofpractice. The study has revealed the potential that a community ofpractice framework 326
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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
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In the next extract, Ben referred t
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for making bread. The difficulty an
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T: P: T: P: T: P: T: Look again. Is
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stemmed from a discussion at the TE
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Key to the table A = Good/substanti
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was doing the budget and where they
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ofher school and the TEMS community
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Extract from Beth's final interview
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fox the invitations and arrange for
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Table 6.6: Teachers' learning in te
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CHAPTER SEVEN AN ANALYSIS OF TEACHE
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As we saw in Chapter Six, the core
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who did or did not want to become f
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The following extract offers a narr
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difficulties (ibid.). In the above
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A community moves from the potentia
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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
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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
Page 326 and 327: for the purposes ofprofessional dev
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Page 332 and 333: South Africa, due cognisance must b
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 342 and 343: has for teacher learning in a South
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.
Page 354 and 355: Westheimer,1. (1998) Among schoolte
Page 356 and 357: APPENDIX 2 INTERVIEW SCHEDULES (INI
Page 358 and 359: 2. What information have you been g
Page 360 and 361: APPENDIX 3 EXAMPLE OF JOURNAL ENTRI
Page 362: APPENDIX 5 EXAMPLE OF INDEPENDENT O
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