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

interaction among peers about their practice and guided by questions posed by myself
and fellow participants. From a situative perspective, the curriculum for teacher learning
would support ongoing inquiry about ideas presented in the new Revised National
Curriculum Statement and their implications for day-to-day EMS practice. It included not
only subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge, but also practical
knowledge to translate EMS ideas into practice. By adopting this (situative) perspective
on teacher learning, my implicit assumption was that the curriculum for teacher learning
would be stretched over an array ofartefacts and events, a position supported by Rogoff
(1990). It was envisioned that a combination ofthese artefacts and events would form an
integrated curriculum for teacher learning. The curriculum for teacher learning would
then be situated across the new Revised National Curriculum Statement with special
reference to EMS, classroom curricula materials, and teachers' attempts to implement
EMS practice.
Grossman et al (2001) refer to what they term the essential tension ofteacher community.
There exists a tension between improving professional practice by improving pedagogic
skills and the continuing intellectual development in the subject matter ofthe school
curriculum. They state that the latter is a less familiar aspect and assumes that "teachers
are lifelong students oftheir subjects..." (ibid. 2001:951). Teachers must continue to
increase their knowledge and remain updated with regard to changes in their disciplines:
"These two aspects ofteacher development - one that focuses teachers' attention on the
improvement of student learning, the other focused on the teacher as student ofsubject
matter- do not always mix harmoniously. Often they do not mix at all" (Grossman et al
2001 :952). These two approaches are essentially a contrast between the promise ofdirect
applicability and the long-term goal ofpersonal intellectual renewal. Grossman et al
suggest that "the challenge in creating... community is to heed both aims simultaneously:
to maintain a focus on students while creating structures for teachers to engage as
learners with the subject matters they teach" (ibid.:952). These two critical foci ofteacher
learning must be carefully considered if there is to be any successful attempt to create and
sustain 'teacher intellectual community'. Teacher community must be equally concerned
with student learning and with teacher learning. They are at the essence of teaching, and
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