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changes within the school as a result of the acceptance of Reggio-inspired philosophy to
guide practice, one school’s story reflects the change possibilities. In three of the schools,
major personnel shifts resulted in a waning of the project’s impact. In the fourth school,
the teachers that had aligned themselves most closely with the philosophy of Reggio
Emilia continued to study together (Miller & Shoptaugh, 2004).
They continue to work to create an environment of support and challenge
and use project-based design to attend to curriculum requirements and
children’s interests. They continue to incorporate media as a tool for
thinking and find time to create documentation panels. Most importantly,
they find ways to engage with other teachers in discussions of their work
either through an informal process within their school or through
membership in Ohio’s Reggio study group. Now, two years beyond the
end of the original project, the membership of teachers within this school
continues to grow. (Miller & Shoptaugh, 2004, pp. 254 – 255)
The establishment of communities of practice where teachers engage together in
research can empower teachers to improve and avoid top-down models of professional
development in which they are viewed as implementers of externally-driven change
(Wood & Bennett, 1999). Wood and Bennett’s (1999) research study of nine early
childhood teachers and their road towards change exemplifies the value of establishing
communities of practice in which teachers generate their own professional discourses.
There is an increasingly large amount of research on the building of discourse
communities amongst teachers in the school system where “teachers engage in
professional dialogue, talk about practice, practice new initiatives, and get moral support
as they engage in the uncertainties together” (Hargreaves & Evans, 1997, p. 10). More
research is needed on the building of discourse communities within the field of early
childhood education.
In the context of early childhood education, there is an increasing
emphasis on multi-professional and inter-agency collaboration, and on