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

Critical research questions:
1. What is the nature ofteacher learning in an EMS community ofpractice?
2. Drawing on Critical question 1 with particular reference to Graven's (2002)
work with Mathematics teachers, to what extent is social practice theory
useful in explaining the nature ofteacher learning in a community ofpractice?
3. Drawing on Critical questions 1 and 2, to what extent does social practice
theory enhance our understanding ofteacher development in South Africa?
1.2.5 The scope of the study
This research study was limited to a group ofEMS teacher learners in primary schools
who, out ofneed, had constituted themselves to make sense ofand develop the new EMS
curriculum for learners in grades four to seven. This was an ill-defined group ofteachers
who were socio-economically, ethnically and academically diverse, and who taught in
starkly contrasting contexts. The thread that appeared to bind these teachers was the
novel challenge they experienced in having to teach EMS, a learning area in which they
had had no formal training. While the term 'novelty' may conjure up positive images,
these teachers in fact had negative initial dispositions towards this learning area.
1.2.6 Contribution of this study
The literature on teacher development will reveal that teacher development through
participation in teacher learning communities is a relatively new phenomenon in South
African teacher education. This perspective, namely, learning in a community, attempts
to recast the relationship between what people know and the settings in which they know.
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