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

the purpose of this research study, to probe and clarify the nature of teacher learning.
While research scholars and policy makers (in the USA) have cast their work primarily in
terms ofpupils, little attention has been paid to teachers and how they learn new ways of
teaching (Putman and Borko 2000). Pupils cannot improve their level ofachievement
until teachers become more effective in their own practice. In a school learning
community, teacher learning comesfirst (CarmichaeI1982). Teachers who spend time
collectively studying teaching practices are more effective overall at developing higher­
order thinking skills and meeting the needs ofdiverse learners (Darling-Hammond 1998).
In recent years there has been a proliferation of research into schools as learning
communities in which learning by teachers is connected to school improvement (see
DuFour and Eaker 1998; Reyes, Scribner and Paredes -Scribner 1999; Thiessen and
Anderson 1999; Smylie and Hart 1999).
New ideas about the nature ofcognition and learning abound in education and research
communities. Concepts like "situated cognition", "distributed cognition" and
"communities ofpractice" have taken centre stage in educational research (Putman and
Borko 2000). This is particularly evident in the work ofGreeno (1997) and Anderson,
Reder and Simon (1996, 1997).
Drawing on the work ofHutchins, Lave, Pea, Resnick and Vygotsky, Spillane (2000:3)
provides the following description ofthe situative perspective on learning:
The situative perspective regards individuals as inseparable from their communities and
environments. This perspective views knowledge as distributed in the social, material,
and cultural artefacts of the environment. Knowing is the ability of individuals to
participate in the practices ofthe community. Learning involves developing practices and
abilities valued in specific communities and situations. The motivation to engage in
learning is seen in terms of developing and sustaining learners' identities in the
communities in which they participate. Learning opportunities need to be organised so
that they encourage participation in practices of inquiry and learning, support the
learner's identity as skilled inquirer, and enable the learner to develop the disciplinary
practices of discourse and argumentation. Learning opportunities need to be grounded in
problems that are meaningful to the student.
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