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

This section provides an analysis ofteachers' changing practices in relation to EMS
teaching by focussing the discussion on the learning oftwo teachers, Ben and Debbie.
These two teachers presented the greatest differences on the learning continuum
(specifically with regard to their practice), with Ben having made the smallest shift and
Debbie having made the greatest movement. Their personal histories, teaching contexts
and career trajectories appeared to be important factors that shaped the way in which they
responded to the TEMS programme and it was for these reasons that they were selected
for analysis.
In attempting to explain teachers' changing practice, I present evidence ofshifts with
regard to teachers' 'content knowledge', 'pedagogical content knowledge', 'questioning
and rapport', the level of 'pupil involvement' and 'teaching resources' employed by
teachers. To guide the analysis, I examine these categorisations in terms oftheir being
'good/substantially present', 'developing/adequate', 'partial/scant/inadequate' or
'weak/poor/non-existent' (see Table 6.5 below).
In the narrative vignettes ofboth teachers, it becomes evident that teacher biographies,
career trajectories and other contextual factors interact to affect the nature ofteacher
learning, in particular, their ability to make meaning ofthe new EMS curriculum and
their dispositions towards their EMS classroom practice. A composite picture ofteachers'
learning for all TEMS research participants is presented in Table 6.4.
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