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

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4.4 RESEARCH DESIGN As already indicated, this study used multiple, interactive qualitative research methods. It attempted to utilise critical elements ofcase study research and ethnography to pursue the research agenda. One ofthe limitations ofcase study research is the issue of generalization. However, this mode ofinquiry enabled me to generate an in depth account of contextually relevant issues and principles related to Wenger's theory. 4.4.1 The TEMS community as the empirical field The TEMS community was a dynamic and constantly changing grouping ofEMS teachers. Invitations to the TEMS workshop sessions were sent out to nineteen schools in the region. These stressed that attendance at the TEMS workshops was voluntary. Research participants received a formal letter (see Appendix 1) indicating the conditions oftheir participation (one ofthe conditions being regular attendance at workshop sessions). Eleven teachers initially committed themselves to the research project as research participants. However, the actual number ofTEMS research participants eventually constituted a core group ofseven teachers. The four teachers that dropped offcited work pressures and personal reasons for their withdrawal. Four other teachers were regular attendees at workshop sessions but elected not to be part ofthe research project as research participants. Six teachers attended alternate sessions. These teachers came from schools that had a policy ofalternating their representatives. The arrival ofnew teachers was a feature of every session. The non-appearance of previous attendees was also a phenomenon ofthe TEMS community. Three teachers made a regular habit ofarriving for a session, signing the register, waiting for fifteen minutes, then quietly exiting the venue. The existence ofa community ofpractice does not depend on fixed membership (Wenger 1988). Participants fit into several categories and assume various roles within the communities ofpractice, such as a coordinator, who 119
organised events and linked community members; a core group of active participants who assumed leadership roles; an active group offrequent but not regular participants; and peripheral participants, members who occasionally took part, and 'lurkers' who learned from observation (Wenger, McDermott and Snyder 2002). The table below provides a list of schools and research participants: I Table 4.1: Schools and Research participants Name of Participant Name of School Gender Teaching Experience (years) Beth Pecan Primary F 6 Kim Eden Primary F 25 Debbie Eden Primary F 15 Shirley Eden Primary F 8 Mary Galley Primary F 25 John Neon Primary M 21 Ben Pecan Primary M 19 The TEMS community can be represented as follows: Table 4.2: TEMS community membership Membership Description Organised events, sent out invitations; Number Co-ordinator administrative responsibilities; active member but not a research participant Active research participants involved in all I Core group aspects ofthe study. Also assumed leadership roles Non-research participants, but active members 7 Active members in the TEMS community Attended every alternate session - varied 4 Alternates levels ofparticipation Infrequent attendance - limited participation 6 Peripherals/lurkers Present at sessions for short duration to record 4 Impressed volunteers their presence on the register - minimal oarticipation 3 First time appearance at a workshop session - At least one New members participation levels and subsequent attendance new teacher varied per session I Note: Pseudonyms are used for schools and teachers. 120
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Teacher Learning in a Community of
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ABSTRACT Conceptualising teacher le
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DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated
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DECLARATION I, Suriamurthee Moonsam
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ASSOCIATED CONCEPTS UNDER STUDY WIT
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Observation ofJohn's teaching after
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A SYNTHESIS OF THE STUDy...........
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TEMS RNCS EMS GET DoE INSET ELRC SA
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In describing the subject-pedagogy
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teachers lacked content knowledge r
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acknowledges the importance and pec
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some formal Mathematics teacher edu
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study, the coordination functions w
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It foregrounds the fact that the co
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school. Higher education opportunit
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frame models for projecting future
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teacher education by the state, (as
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schools, classrooms, management and
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Although the Teacher Audit indicate
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One ofthe first curriculum reform i
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entrenched design feature of C2005,
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In Chapter Five, I set up a narrati
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LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 INTRODUCTION
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As indicated in the previous chapte
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This view is supported by Putman an
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Learning is social in nature (Putma
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Constant reflection on and understa
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Teachers drew on their membership i
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The above arguments about the lack
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change. She highlights the importan
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Differences in the cultures oflearn
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persons and is not considered solel
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and offers insights into how learni
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America. Goodson (1992) and Calderh
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learned meaning and value for them
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'accommodation' and intimates that
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staffroom and a 'pragmatic' teacher
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Davisson (1984), Lumsden and Scott
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directive in that it guides choices
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economic discourse, the economics p
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• Understand and promote the impo
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Page 85 and 86: (Walford 2001; Anderson 1999). With
Page 87 and 88: • It places value on the research
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Page 91 and 92: Lave and Wenger emphasise the centr
Page 93 and 94: 3.3.2 The Work ofWenger (1998): Com
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Page 97 and 98: Figure 3.3: Refined intersection of
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Page 105 and 106: system or institution and the influ
Page 107 and 108: 3.3.2.4 Learning Practice has to be
Page 109 and 110: new possibilities for meaning. Brok
Page 111 and 112: These characteristics indicate that
Page 113 and 114: engage with one another and acknowl
Page 115 and 116: A structural model ofa community of
Page 117 and 118: who were regarded as peripheral. A
Page 119 and 120: Ideally I would have wanted teacher
Page 121 and 122: they represent key ingredients in s
Page 123 and 124: that the Wenger framework presents
Page 125 and 126: more useful and effective than part
Page 127 and 128: 3.6 CONCLUSION This chapter provide
Page 129 and 130: • While my professional input int
Page 131 and 132: • Cycle ofhypothesis and theory b
Page 133: observer played themselves out. A c
Page 137 and 138: In keeping with ethnographic princi
Page 139 and 140: In this qualitative study, my inter
Page 141 and 142: collection. He questions whether co
Page 143 and 144: physical context, the complex body
Page 145 and 146: completed, final text: rather, they
Page 147 and 148: the teacher over classroom events (
Page 149: 'connoisseurship'. I realised that
Page 152 and 153: In this study, the criteria for the
Page 154 and 155: In Chapter One I described the sequ
Page 156 and 157: tactic by indicating to research pa
Page 158 and 159: On the occasions that I delivered b
Page 160 and 161: "Confidentiality involves a clear u
Page 163 and 164: were cordial and professional. The
Page 165 and 166: CHAPTER FIVE HOW HAD TEACHER LEARNI
Page 167 and 168: individual participants changed dif
Page 169 and 170: He received his schooling under the
Page 171 and 172: school regularly updated the books
Page 173 and 174: gone on to become really wealthy. I
Page 175 and 176: John noted that in planning the cur
Page 177 and 178: Significant changes had thus occurr
Page 179 and 180: just transfer it. For example, bank
Page 181 and 182: Extract from the lesson: John: Pupi
Page 183 and 184: schoolwork as 'economic work'. This
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John: Now we are not looking at thi
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cardboard and drawing or sticking i
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John: Now I want you to remember wh
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John succeeded in drawing on the sp
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at her maths books to which the tea
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issues that his pupils were raising
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5.5 JOHN'S CHANGING PROFESSIONAL ID
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to achieve their joint enterprise o
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5.6 JOHN'S INCREASED PARTICIPATION
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John regarded the close interaction
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As stated earlier, because the 'con
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CHAPTER SIX USING WENGER'S CONSTRUC
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6.2 SECTION ONE AN ANALYSIS OF TEAC
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understanding it at all. I just don
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In the final interview that took pl
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MM: Shirley: learning outcomes and
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the little things like we started i
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understandings and conceptions ofth
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Extract from Mary's final interview
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Teachers were able to describe the
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The essential differences between D
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Debbie's school, Eden Primary was l
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what he's saying. And in that lesso
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they were excellent, really good. I
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Extract from first lesson observati
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out of the material that they had.
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largely recall, repetition or were
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Third extract from Debbie's second
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From the above extracts and discuss
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with a new set ofsubjects. Without
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was three kilometres away from the
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In the next extract, Ben referred t
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for making bread. The difficulty an
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T: P: T: P: T: P: T: Look again. Is
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stemmed from a discussion at the TE
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Key to the table A = Good/substanti
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was doing the budget and where they
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ofher school and the TEMS community
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Extract from Beth's final interview
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fox the invitations and arrange for
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Table 6.6: Teachers' learning in te
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CHAPTER SEVEN AN ANALYSIS OF TEACHE
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As we saw in Chapter Six, the core
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who did or did not want to become f
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The following extract offers a narr
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difficulties (ibid.). In the above
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A community moves from the potentia
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Cindy began the workshop with a tho
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oundaries" (Wenger et al 2002:97).
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7.4 AN ANALYSIS OF THE TEMS GROUP A
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necessary to learn what they needed
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Figure 7.2: Brokering relationships
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the group. Wenger (1998) notes that
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knowledge ofothers. It is therefore
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MM Shirley MM: Mary: MM: Mary Have
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The following extract from a worksh
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MM: Shirley: How many EMS workshops
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Table 7.2: Criteria for the emergen
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Soudien, a leading South African ac
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hand, adopts a 'narrow' perspective
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As mentioned earlier, Wenger's work
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literature review revealed that the
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Another important feature ofWenger'
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'Identity' namely, 'learning as bec
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(Hargreaves 1995). Teacher professi
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for the purposes ofprofessional dev
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teacher growth. CPD in Africa subsc
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knowledge of subject content is ser
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South Africa, due cognisance must b
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8.3.7 An arena for engaging and con
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the provision of appropriate profes
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level conceptual thinking". They wa
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Collaboration within teacher learni
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has for teacher learning in a South
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Bourdieu, P. (1986) The Forms ofCap
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Department ofEducation (2002) Revis
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Homan, R. (2002) The principle of i
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Mattson, L. (2000) Teacher identiti
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Smylie, M.A., Bay, M. & Tozer, S.E.
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Westheimer,1. (1998) Among schoolte
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APPENDIX 2 INTERVIEW SCHEDULES (INI
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2. What information have you been g
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APPENDIX 3 EXAMPLE OF JOURNAL ENTRI
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APPENDIX 5 EXAMPLE OF INDEPENDENT O
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