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

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collaborate in an activity, each can assist the others and each can learn from the contribution ofothers" (Wells 1999:333). Long (2004) identifies three barriers to teacher learning as teachers strive to grow professionally. She cites the lack ofconsistent high-quality support for new teachers, limited long-term, research-based professional development for experienced teachers, and the"... 'testing frenzy' that too often pushes teachers to abandon beliefs in the drive to teach for test success" as significant barriers to teacher learning (ibid.: 145). "From the teacher's perspective, one ofthe peculiarities ofthe workplace is that learning aimed at deepening knowledge ofthe subject matters ofinstruction must be done outside ofthe school, during so-called free time..." (Grossman, Wineburg and Woolworth 2001:947). In South Africa, a similar phenomenon occurs where principals are content to allow teachers to attend workshops 'after school hours'. This has given rise to a situation where communities for teacher learning are formed 'outside' ofthe school. Lortie (1975) maintains that collaborative work among teachers is hindered by the job related norms of teacher privacy that are maintained to a large extent by the organisation ofthe school day. Darling-Hammond and McLaughlin (1995) however, note, that a powerful form of teacher learning comes from membership ofprofessional communities that extend beyond the classrooms and school campuses. Engaging an analytical approach for situating teachers' practices within schools and districts by working with a group ofteachers in an urban school district, Cobb, McClain, de Silva Lamberg and Dean (2003) assert that such an approach is useful in that it allows for valuable feedback that could guide and inform ongoing collaborations with teachers and administrators. Their approach focuses on the functions ofteaching and delineates the communities ofpractice whose members contribute to the accomplishment ofthese functions. They argue that teaching is an activity that is distributed across a configuration of communities ofpractice within a school or district. 35
Learning is social in nature (Putman and Borko 2000:5). Educators and psychologists are recognising that the role of 'others' in the learning process goes beyond providing stimulation and encouragement for individual construction ofknowledge. Interaction with fellow participants in the learning environment has a major influence on what is learned and how learning takes place. What participants consider 'knowledge' and how they think and express ideas are outcomes ofinteractions ofgroups ofpeople over time (Resnick 1991). Individuals participate in 'discourse communities' that provide the cognitive tools (theories, ideas and concepts) that individuals share and use as their own in their efforts to make sense ofexperiences. Research on teacher learning reveals a strong motivation to situate teachers' learning within teachers' classrooms and within school sites, through classroom observations and staff development workshops. This approach has merit in that teachers' learning is intertwined with their ongoing practice. However, the nature and scope ofthis approach to teacher learning is constrained by time, human and economic resources, and is often not practical (Putman and Borko 2000). While the classroom may be a powerful environment for shaping how teachers learn, it can also place constraints on how teachers think and act, making them resistant to reflection or change. "Engaging in learning experiences away from this setting may be necessary to help teachers 'break set'- to experience things in new ways" (ibid.:?). Learning communities have the ability to transcend organisational and geographic boundaries. Members may represent different backgrounds and organisations but will have a common set ofcore issues that bind the members together in a single community (Wesley and Buysse 2001). Ofparticular significance to this study is the work ofEtienne Wenger (1998). At this point it is appropriate to briefly review Wenger's conception oflearning. In Chapter Four however, a comprehensive discussion ofWenger's work based on his book Communities ofPractice: Learning, Meaning and Identity is provided. 36
Page 1 and 2: Teacher Learning in a Community of
Page 3 and 4: ABSTRACT Conceptualising teacher le
Page 5 and 6: DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated
Page 7 and 8: DECLARATION I, Suriamurthee Moonsam
Page 9 and 10: ASSOCIATED CONCEPTS UNDER STUDY WIT
Page 11 and 12: Observation ofJohn's teaching after
Page 13 and 14: A SYNTHESIS OF THE STUDy...........
Page 15 and 16: TEMS RNCS EMS GET DoE INSET ELRC SA
Page 17 and 18: In describing the subject-pedagogy
Page 19 and 20: teachers lacked content knowledge r
Page 21 and 22: acknowledges the importance and pec
Page 23 and 24: some formal Mathematics teacher edu
Page 25 and 26: study, the coordination functions w
Page 27 and 28: It foregrounds the fact that the co
Page 29 and 30: school. Higher education opportunit
Page 31 and 32: frame models for projecting future
Page 33 and 34: teacher education by the state, (as
Page 35 and 36: schools, classrooms, management and
Page 37 and 38: Although the Teacher Audit indicate
Page 39 and 40: One ofthe first curriculum reform i
Page 41 and 42: entrenched design feature of C2005,
Page 43 and 44: In Chapter Five, I set up a narrati
Page 45 and 46: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 INTRODUCTION
Page 47 and 48: As indicated in the previous chapte
Page 49: This view is supported by Putman an
Page 53 and 54: Constant reflection on and understa
Page 55 and 56: Teachers drew on their membership i
Page 57 and 58: The above arguments about the lack
Page 59 and 60: change. She highlights the importan
Page 61 and 62: Differences in the cultures oflearn
Page 63 and 64: persons and is not considered solel
Page 65 and 66: and offers insights into how learni
Page 67 and 68: America. Goodson (1992) and Calderh
Page 69 and 70: learned meaning and value for them
Page 71 and 72: 'accommodation' and intimates that
Page 73 and 74: staffroom and a 'pragmatic' teacher
Page 75 and 76: Davisson (1984), Lumsden and Scott
Page 77 and 78: directive in that it guides choices
Page 79 and 80: economic discourse, the economics p
Page 81 and 82: • Understand and promote the impo
Page 83 and 84: 2.7 CONCLUSION This chapter began b
Page 85 and 86: (Walford 2001; Anderson 1999). With
Page 87 and 88: • It places value on the research
Page 89 and 90: The main research question in this
Page 91 and 92: Lave and Wenger emphasise the centr
Page 93 and 94: 3.3.2 The Work ofWenger (1998): Com
Page 95 and 96: agree with the way it takes place o
Page 97 and 98: Figure 3.3: Refined intersection of
Page 99 and 100: eflecting. The ability of a communi
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object to something that in reality
Page 103 and 104:
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
Page 111 and 112:
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
Page 121 and 122:
they represent key ingredients in s
Page 123 and 124:
that the Wenger framework presents
Page 125 and 126:
more useful and effective than part
Page 127 and 128:
3.6 CONCLUSION This chapter provide
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• While my professional input int
Page 131 and 132:
• Cycle ofhypothesis and theory b
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observer played themselves out. A c
Page 135 and 136:
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
Page 145 and 146:
completed, final text: rather, they
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the teacher over classroom events (
Page 149:
'connoisseurship'. I realised that
Page 152 and 153:
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
Page 158 and 159:
On the occasions that I delivered b
Page 160 and 161:
"Confidentiality involves a clear u
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were cordial and professional. The
Page 165 and 166:
CHAPTER FIVE HOW HAD TEACHER LEARNI
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individual participants changed dif
Page 169 and 170:
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
Page 175 and 176:
John noted that in planning the cur
Page 177 and 178:
Significant changes had thus occurr
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just transfer it. For example, bank
Page 181 and 182:
Extract from the lesson: John: Pupi
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schoolwork as 'economic work'. This
Page 185 and 186:
John: Now we are not looking at thi
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cardboard and drawing or sticking i
Page 189 and 190:
John: Now I want you to remember wh
Page 191 and 192:
John succeeded in drawing on the sp
Page 193:
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
Page 206 and 207:
As stated earlier, because the 'con
Page 209 and 210:
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
Page 224 and 225:
Extract from Mary's final interview
Page 227 and 228:
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
Page 237 and 238:
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
Page 244 and 245:
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
Page 258 and 259:
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
Page 269 and 270:
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
Page 276 and 277:
CHAPTER SEVEN AN ANALYSIS OF TEACHE
Page 278 and 279:
As we saw in Chapter Six, the core
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who did or did not want to become f
Page 283 and 284:
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
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
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necessary to learn what they needed
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Figure 7.2: Brokering relationships
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the group. Wenger (1998) notes that
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knowledge ofothers. It is therefore
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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
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Soudien, a leading South African ac
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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
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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
Page 332 and 333:
South Africa, due cognisance must b
Page 334 and 335:
8.3.7 An arena for engaging and con
Page 336 and 337:
the provision of appropriate profes
Page 338 and 339:
level conceptual thinking". They wa
Page 340 and 341:
Collaboration within teacher learni
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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