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

teachers lacked content knowledge required to teach this 'new' discipline in the senior
GET phase. The introduction ofEMS in the primary school had thus created a need and a
demand for EMS INSET in South Africa.
In 2002, at the University ofNatal Faculty ofEducation's annual principals' day
workshop, there was an overwhelming request from principals for workshops to assist
Economic and Management Sciences teachers in primary schools, and it was at this
meeting that exploratory ideas for the TEMS project were first mooted. Thus, unlike
much INSET such as 'OBE Training' which many teachers felt was imposed on them,
the TEMS had its origins in a request from those at the proverbial 'chalkface'.
In September 2002, the Commerce Education Curriculum Development team 1 ofthe
University ofNatal held a daylong Economic and Management Sciences workshop for
teachers ofEMS. This workshop was successfully conducted on a Saturday with twenty­
two teachers attending. The programme for the day included a slot that outlined the initial
ideas ofthe TEMS project. During this session I learnt that teachers in the MariannhiIl­
Shallcross area had in fact already organised a structure (which they referred to as a cell
group) that was a forum where teachers in a learning area met regularly to discuss
curriculum issues and to share ideas and resources. A cell group for the EMS learning
area had just recently been formed. The coordinator highlighted some ofthe difficulties
that the group was experiencing: EMS teachers needed help, as they were uncertain ofthe
expectations ofthe new learning area. Ofsignificance was that this 'community of
practice' was a structure that had been conceived by a group ofinterested teachers eager
to support each other in the absence ofsupport from the Department ofEducation. This
presented an excellent research opportunity for me to study the nature ofteacher learning
in this context while making a professional contribution to the work ofthis group.
TheTEMS (Teaching Economic and Management Sciences) research project was thus
conceived at the end of2002. The focus ofthe research study that was conducted
alongside my professional contribution was on the nature ofteacher learning in a
I I was the team leader.
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