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

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'Identity' namely, 'learning as becoming' was signalled by the fact that teachers experienced their learning in terms ofchanged perspectives about who they were and what they were becoming. Teachers identified themselves as EMS teachers and envisaged a future for themselves as EMS teachers at their respective schools. The study also shows that their increased involvement in EMS activities at their schools had strengthened their positions at their schools and that they were perceived as 'valuable' to their schools. Their participation in the TEMS programme had resulted in their repositioning themselves within their own school communities. They had also started receiving recognition for their participation in the TEMS community from their school and other communities. Finally, in terms of 'community' namely, 'learning as belonging' (participation), the study provides evidence ofteachers' changing participation in the TEMS community. It suggests that the community subscribed to the notions ofa 'shared repertoire', 'mutual engagement' and 'joint enterprise' in substantial ways. The TEMS community had created opportunities for different forms ofparticipation (core and peripheral) and had developed a wealth ofcommunal resources from which members could draw. Healthy brokering relationships began to emerge with other communities. Thoughtful community maintenance activities were also a significant feature ofthe TEMS community. Each ofthe components of learning is connected and mutually reinforcing. Teachers' abilities to talk about and make meaning ofnew EMS knowledge influenced their practice and shaped their identities. These changes occurred within the context ofa supportive learning community. Enhanced identities led to increased participation in the practice ofthe community, which in turn facilitated improved meaning. However, as noted above, outcomes for different participants were not uniform. They were, in fact, uneven. This unevenness is attributable to several factors. Individual teachers differed according to previous experience, qualifications, biographies, career trajectories, cultures, present practice and expectations ofthe future. These differences influenced the extent oftheir 307
learning along the learning continuum for each ofthe four learning components. The TEMS programme was an informal teacher development programme that invited different levels ofparticipation (core membership, active membership, while also accommodating 'lurkers', and 'peripherals') and therefore had a unique appeal in that participation in the TEMS learning community was voluntary. This allowed teachers to participate at will. Such voluntary participation was always likely to produce uneven outcomes as a result of uneven participation. The co-ordinator's role was central to the efficient functioning ofthe community, ensuring that 'community maintenance' activities were taken care of. 'Community maintenance' is an 'intrinsic part' of any practice. However, because it may be much less visible than the more instrumental aspects ofthat practice, it can be easily undervalued or not recognised (Wenger 1998). The 'community maintenance' activities certainly received acknowledgement and were indeed appreciated by community members. It certainly was a feature that shaped the outcomes ofthe TEMS programme in positive ways. Finally, this study tracked and analysed the development ofa community ofEMS teachers using Wenger et aI's model offive stages ofcommunity development, as the community progressed through its various stages. It analysed different levels of membership as theorised by Wenger et al (2002) in order to explain different levels of participation by different members. 8.3 IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 8.3.1 Social practice theory offers insights into a workable alternative for CPD in the face of acute financial constraints Many countries are engaging in major educational reform in order to meet the needs of the economy and society and governments have begun to acknowledge the fact that teachers are crucial role players ifany change in the education system is to be effective 308
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Teacher Learning in a Community of
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ABSTRACT Conceptualising teacher le
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DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated
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DECLARATION I, Suriamurthee Moonsam
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ASSOCIATED CONCEPTS UNDER STUDY WIT
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Observation ofJohn's teaching after
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A SYNTHESIS OF THE STUDy...........
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TEMS RNCS EMS GET DoE INSET ELRC SA
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In describing the subject-pedagogy
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teachers lacked content knowledge r
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acknowledges the importance and pec
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some formal Mathematics teacher edu
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study, the coordination functions w
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It foregrounds the fact that the co
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school. Higher education opportunit
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frame models for projecting future
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teacher education by the state, (as
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schools, classrooms, management and
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Although the Teacher Audit indicate
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One ofthe first curriculum reform i
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entrenched design feature of C2005,
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In Chapter Five, I set up a narrati
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LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 INTRODUCTION
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As indicated in the previous chapte
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This view is supported by Putman an
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Learning is social in nature (Putma
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Constant reflection on and understa
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Teachers drew on their membership i
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The above arguments about the lack
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change. She highlights the importan
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Differences in the cultures oflearn
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persons and is not considered solel
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and offers insights into how learni
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America. Goodson (1992) and Calderh
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learned meaning and value for them
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'accommodation' and intimates that
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staffroom and a 'pragmatic' teacher
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Davisson (1984), Lumsden and Scott
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directive in that it guides choices
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economic discourse, the economics p
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• Understand and promote the impo
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2.7 CONCLUSION This chapter began b
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(Walford 2001; Anderson 1999). With
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• It places value on the research
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The main research question in this
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Lave and Wenger emphasise the centr
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3.3.2 The Work ofWenger (1998): Com
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agree with the way it takes place o
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Figure 3.3: Refined intersection of
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eflecting. The ability of a communi
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object to something that in reality
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practice is not just an aggregate o
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system or institution and the influ
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3.3.2.4 Learning Practice has to be
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new possibilities for meaning. Brok
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These characteristics indicate that
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engage with one another and acknowl
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A structural model ofa community of
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who were regarded as peripheral. A
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Ideally I would have wanted teacher
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they represent key ingredients in s
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that the Wenger framework presents
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more useful and effective than part
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3.6 CONCLUSION This chapter provide
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• While my professional input int
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• Cycle ofhypothesis and theory b
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observer played themselves out. A c
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organised events and linked communi
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In keeping with ethnographic princi
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In this qualitative study, my inter
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collection. He questions whether co
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physical context, the complex body
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completed, final text: rather, they
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the teacher over classroom events (
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'connoisseurship'. I realised that
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In this study, the criteria for the
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In Chapter One I described the sequ
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tactic by indicating to research pa
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On the occasions that I delivered b
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"Confidentiality involves a clear u
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were cordial and professional. The
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CHAPTER FIVE HOW HAD TEACHER LEARNI
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individual participants changed dif
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He received his schooling under the
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school regularly updated the books
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gone on to become really wealthy. I
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John noted that in planning the cur
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Significant changes had thus occurr
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just transfer it. For example, bank
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Extract from the lesson: John: Pupi
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schoolwork as 'economic work'. This
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John: Now we are not looking at thi
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cardboard and drawing or sticking i
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John: Now I want you to remember wh
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John succeeded in drawing on the sp
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at her maths books to which the tea
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issues that his pupils were raising
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5.5 JOHN'S CHANGING PROFESSIONAL ID
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to achieve their joint enterprise o
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5.6 JOHN'S INCREASED PARTICIPATION
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John regarded the close interaction
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As stated earlier, because the 'con
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CHAPTER SIX USING WENGER'S CONSTRUC
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6.2 SECTION ONE AN ANALYSIS OF TEAC
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understanding it at all. I just don
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In the final interview that took pl
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MM: Shirley: learning outcomes and
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the little things like we started i
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understandings and conceptions ofth
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Extract from Mary's final interview
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Teachers were able to describe the
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The essential differences between D
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Debbie's school, Eden Primary was l
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what he's saying. And in that lesso
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they were excellent, really good. I
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Extract from first lesson observati
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out of the material that they had.
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largely recall, repetition or were
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Third extract from Debbie's second
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From the above extracts and discuss
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with a new set ofsubjects. Without
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was three kilometres away from the
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In the next extract, Ben referred t
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for making bread. The difficulty an
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T: P: T: P: T: P: T: Look again. Is
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stemmed from a discussion at the TE
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Key to the table A = Good/substanti
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was doing the budget and where they
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ofher school and the TEMS community
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Extract from Beth's final interview
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Page 273: Table 6.6: Teachers' learning in te
Page 276 and 277: CHAPTER SEVEN AN ANALYSIS OF TEACHE
Page 278 and 279: As we saw in Chapter Six, the core
Page 280 and 281: who did or did not want to become f
Page 283 and 284: The following extract offers a narr
Page 285 and 286: difficulties (ibid.). In the above
Page 287 and 288: A community moves from the potentia
Page 289 and 290: Cindy began the workshop with a tho
Page 291 and 292: oundaries" (Wenger et al 2002:97).
Page 293 and 294: 7.4 AN ANALYSIS OF THE TEMS GROUP A
Page 295 and 296: necessary to learn what they needed
Page 297 and 298: Figure 7.2: Brokering relationships
Page 299 and 300: the group. Wenger (1998) notes that
Page 301 and 302: knowledge ofothers. It is therefore
Page 303 and 304: MM Shirley MM: Mary: MM: Mary Have
Page 305 and 306: The following extract from a worksh
Page 307 and 308: MM: Shirley: How many EMS workshops
Page 309 and 310: Table 7.2: Criteria for the emergen
Page 311: Soudien, a leading South African ac
Page 314 and 315: hand, adopts a 'narrow' perspective
Page 316 and 317: As mentioned earlier, Wenger's work
Page 318 and 319: literature review revealed that the
Page 320 and 321: Another important feature ofWenger'
Page 324 and 325: (Hargreaves 1995). Teacher professi
Page 326 and 327: for the purposes ofprofessional dev
Page 328 and 329: teacher growth. CPD in Africa subsc
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Page 334 and 335: 8.3.7 An arena for engaging and con
Page 336 and 337: the provision of appropriate profes
Page 338 and 339: level conceptual thinking". They wa
Page 340 and 341: Collaboration within teacher learni
Page 342 and 343: has for teacher learning in a South
Page 344 and 345: Bourdieu, P. (1986) The Forms ofCap
Page 346 and 347: Department ofEducation (2002) Revis
Page 348 and 349: Homan, R. (2002) The principle of i
Page 350 and 351: Mattson, L. (2000) Teacher identiti
Page 352 and 353: Smylie, M.A., Bay, M. & Tozer, S.E.
Page 354 and 355: Westheimer,1. (1998) Among schoolte
Page 356 and 357: APPENDIX 2 INTERVIEW SCHEDULES (INI
Page 358 and 359: 2. What information have you been g
Page 360 and 361: APPENDIX 3 EXAMPLE OF JOURNAL ENTRI
Page 362: APPENDIX 5 EXAMPLE OF INDEPENDENT O
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