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

John: Yes, like I said before, they have made me see what I've been doing in a new
light .,. I'm also the head of the English committee in the area. This is also
under discussion in English. I've drawn up schemes of work etc. and I've
actually left scope in LLC to show them how to integrate EMS and HSS into
that sUbject. So we've taken some of our ideas into other committees, the
ideas are filtering down.
John described how the Department ofEducation had tried to contrive groupings of
teachers to promote curriculum development in the region. There had reportedly been
much resistance from teachers. Teachers felt that such a grouping ought to be have been
initiated by teachers themselves according to their needs. John mentioned that because he
had been outspoken about this issue at a meeting, he felt that he had been overlooked for
promotion. He indicated that his participation in the TEMS project was voluntary, and
had arisen out ofthe need to acquire information about the learning area.
John had thus eventually become a lead teacher in the TEMS project and had volunteered
to co-organise and run three ofthe TEMS workshops in the second halfof 2003.
The extract below highlights John's dissatisfaction with the procedures that the
Department ofEducation applied in setting up teacher development initiatives:
Extract from initial interview:
MM: What are your views on thiS group and the project that we've started? Have you
been part of such a group before?
John: I have but not in this learning area. I think I put down some of the CELL groups
before we had OBE, in that we were orderedto have the CELL groups. I said no, let
it come from us, from our needs and after two meetings I see everything fell.
(Meaning that the initiative did not succeed) Unfortunately my name is minuted
there as the person who moved that we don't like this top down approach. Let it
come from the bottom. And I think I was held back for that because I saw the
signature. I don't know if you know of him, Mr XX, a late Mr XX, an inspector.
MM: This kind of programme of workshop we're trying to put together... how do you see
that? Do you also see that as a top down kind of thing or...
John: No, I went there voluntarily. Nobody pushed me to go to it and I needed
information. I needed to find out what other teachers are doing because eventually
we might come to setting common papers.
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