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

John: Now we are not looking at this unemployed person celebrating Valentines
Day. He's got no money to buy anything. But what is it using his EMS skills
can he do to earn a living? What can a person do to earn a living?
I want you to get into your groups and discuss it. If you want paper to
record your summaries, please group leaders come and take some.
I'll repeat the question. What can a person do for Valentine's Day to earn a
living? Discuss thiS in your groups quickly.
For the remainder ofthe lesson, pupils worked in groups offive/six making Valentine
cards and gifts, which they hoped to sell to the rest ofthe school later that week.
5.4.1.2 An analysis of the Economic and Management Sciences content of the lesson
The key economic concepts that John wished to expose his pupils to in the lesson were
that of 'work' and 'unemployment'. It was clear that John's own misconception ofthe
economic perspective of 'work' resulted in his presenting a literal, everyday
understanding ofthe concept. This led to confusion amongst his pupils as to what the
term really meant. John's own misconception ofthe concept meant that he was unable to
deal adequately with correct and incorrect answers that arose in the class. Further
evidence ofhis limited EMS knowledge and insight was his inability to identify and link
the concept 'work' directly to the group task he had set, namely, the manufacture of
'Valentine cards'. Issues and concepts such as 'division oflabour' and 'management' that
emerged from the group task could have broadened pupils' understandings ofthe concept
'work'. It was clear that such issues had not occurred to John in the planning ofthe
lesson.
The concept 'unemployment' had been dealt with superficially with a casual reference to
the Unemployment Insurance Fund. John did not attempt to explain how the fund worked
or why it was able to payout only R250 a month to unemployed people. He also made no
attempt to include in the discussion, people who did not belong to an unemployment
insurance fund.
In dealing with both these concepts, the crux ofthe economic problem, that ofscarcity
and choice was not once alluded to. More specifically, John was able only to ascribe
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