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

The focus of Wenger's theory oflearning is on 'learning as participation', that is, being
active participants in the practices of social communities and constructing identities in
relation to these communities. He posits the following elements ofa social theory of
learning:
1. Meaning: a way oftalking about our (changing) ability - individually and
collectively - to experience our life and the world as meaningful.
2. Practice: a way of talking about the shared historical and social resources,
frameworks, and perspectives that can sustain mutual engagement in action.
3. Community: a way oftalking about social configurations in which our
enterprises are defined as worth pursuing and our participation is recognizable
as competence.
4. Identity: a way oftalking about how learning changes whom we are and
creates personal histories ofbecoming in the context ofour communities
(Wenger 1998:5).
These elements are "deeply interconnected and mutually defining" (ibid.:5).
The purposes ofa community ofpractice are for expanding and exchanging knowledge
and the development ofindividual capabilities. People participate through dialogue and
sharing ofknowledge about their common practices. It is through this participation that
members develop deeper understandings (Wenger, McDermott and Snyder 2002).
The situative conception ofteacher learning is particularly important to the present study,
as the theoretical frame adopted by the study is located in the situative paradigm. Writers
and theorists quoted above make convincing arguments for a situative perspective on
teacher development. The situative perspective would seem to have much potential for
teacher learning, especially in the South African teacher education scenario characterised
by extremely diverse communities and environments in which teacher development is
expected to take place.
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