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

The study also provides an in-depth analysis ofthe methodological challenge ofgaining
access and acceptance from a South African education research perspective, based on the
principles outlined by prominent international educational researchers. It offers insights
into the concepts of 'gatekeepers', 'reciprocity' and 'informed consent' as they could be
applied in the South African context.
From a theoretical perspective, the work ofLave and Wenger (1991), Wenger (1998) and
Wenger, McDermott and Snyder (2002), on learning communities as vehicles for
learning has been highlighted. The present research study offered a critique ofthe
feasibility and appropriateness ofusing Wenger's framework for analysing a teacher
learning community. It draws attention to the most serious challenge in applying
Wenger's framework, namely, his marginalisation ofteaching as a fundamental process
that contributes to learning. The theoretical framework does, however, present an
important shift in the reconceptualising ofteacher learning as relations ofparticipation
instead ofthe conventional teacher/learner dyad. Whether knowledge is context bound
and whether situative learning can lead to the acquisition ofdisciplinary knowledge in a
learning community characterised by non-experts is another important issue that is not
adequately addressed by Wenger's framework.
In teacher development research, the limits on language constrain researchers in
describing teachers' practice (Graven 2002). Improvement suggests deficit while adverse
constraints stifle change that is often interpreted as inadequate change. In Africa
particularly, continuing professional development models cast teachers into the role of
technicians and are rooted in images ofteacher deficit (Christie, Harley and Penny 2004).
The focus on teacher learning rather than teacher change allows for descriptions ofwhat
is learned, and how it is learned, instead ofwhether or not teachers have changed in the
'right' directions. This focus on teacher learning has the potential to contribute to a
conceptual reorientation to the discourse on teacher development. A further discussion of
this issue follows in the next section.
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