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

that the Wenger framework presents is to incorporate the broader issues of social and
economic inequalities that may exist beyond the actual site oflearning, fully into the
analysis oflearning. This is particularly significant in a South African context
characterised by widespread social and economic inequalities.
The model does not offer insights for explaining discontinuities in learning that stem
from unequal access to learning. Learning opportunities may depend on an individual's
status within a community. In learning communities more powerful members are able to
gain greater access to learning opportunities. The model does not acknowledge that the
development ofthe individual needs to be viewed as a negotiated process that is
subjected to both facilitative and oppressive forces that may exist within and beyond the
community ofpractice.
Wenger's model ofa community ofpractice presents an account oflearning based on the
formation ofa group-referenced identity. For Wenger, the group represents the primary
unit ofanalysis, where learning becomes inseparable from forms ofsocial engagement.
Exploring an individual member's learning trajectory is difficult using Wenger's model,
as the model does not provide adequate tools for such analysis. This is significant, as a
key barrier to learning is in fact discontinuity in the learning trajectory. In a teacher
learning community, assessing the learning ofan individual teacher presents a challenge,
as Wenger's model is silent on this issue. Wenger fails to deal adequately with teachers
as individuals despite the explicit focus on identity. Understanding individual
dispositions and personalities and how they play themselves out in a learning community
are ignored in the model. The social approach to learning presented by Wenger is at the
expense of an analysis ofthe way individual members ofa community ofpractice learn.
While Wenger acknowledges the reflexive transformation ofindividuals in a community
ofpractice, he does not offer a framework to explore how this occurs. The challenge then
is to theorise a model that integrates individual members' learning in a community of
practice.
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