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

they represent key ingredients in successful professional development. Grossman et al
(2001) note that while these two foci can be at odds with each other, they can be held in a
productive tension.
In the TEMS group, as will be seen presently, it was evident that not all teachers were
equally interested in both foci. While some were interested in developing curriculum,
others were there mainly to acquire subject matter knowledge. In the planning ofthe
TEMS project, an attempt was made to weave both these foci into the agenda. However,
the main thrust ofthe project was to develop subject matter knowledge in the EMS
learning area.
I envisaged that the motivation for teachers to learn resided in teachers' developing and
sustaining identities as knowers and as learners in the TEMS project. The motivation for
teachers to learn centred mainly but not exclusively on developing and sustaining
teachers' identities as learners in the TEMS community ofpractice. It was important to
for me to develop a 'critical mass' (Spillane 2000) ofEMS teacher leaders who would be
able to convince other EMS teachers about the new EMS curriculum, its place in the
school curriculum, and the importance ofEMS knowledge for their pupils. I envisaged
that peer encouragement would motivate participants to engage with meaningful EMS
teaching.
I also hoped that teachers, trying out new ideas in their classrooms, with the support of
their colleagues (addressing implementation difficulties) and observing the response of
their own pupils would be another really important motivating factor and an incentive for
teacher learning, an idea supported by McLaughlin and Talbert (2001). In becoming a
part ofthe TEMS project, teachers would learn in a supportive community ofpractice
and that it would translate into teachers creating supportive learning communities within
their classrooms, and that they would be motivated by their own pupils' learning ofthe
EMS learning area.
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