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

also be at odds with each other (Grossman et a12001; Bolam and McMahon 2004; Adler
and Reed 2002).
Grossman and colleagues note that some participants are product driven, such as wanting
to develop teaching packages; others have as their aim the need to acquire subject matter
knowledge through reading (Grossman et aI2001). They assert that teachers' intellectual
backgrounds determine their inclination to a large extent and while there is support for
the notions oflifelong learning, the occupational reality ofteaching does not permit the
time and space for teachers to read without an immediate apparent goal. Reading and
turning newly acquired subject matter knowledge into concrete ideas for teaching
certainly is a challenge for most teachers. The question ofhow much guidance and
structure to bring into conversations and seeking an appropriate balance between
presenting information and facilitating teachers' construction ofnew practices is a
dilemma that must be carefully considered. Project leaders must negotiate their way
between the teachers' current thinking and the subject matter or content to be learnt. The
issue ofbalance can be addressed by drawing on the unique sets ofknowledge and skills
offered by researchers and teachers. Ideas that emerge in a well-balanced learning
community are jointly produced and further the understanding ofall participants (Putman
and Borko 2000).
A way to address the tension described above is to start from the premise or basic
assumption that teachers cannot teach concepts they themselves have not mastered. An
important rationale for the existence ofa learning community "is to mitigate teachers'
negative affect around difficult subject matter" (Grossman et al 2001 :962).
The issues ofdistributed cognition and the essential tension in learning communities are
central to the present study. Attention is drawn to the notion that participants in a learning
community may have differing abilities and knowledge that they share with each other.
The above discourse also highlights the essential tension in learning communities _
namely that between curriculum development and deepening subject matter knowledge _
49