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

change. She highlights the importance ofongoing professional development in the lives
of teachers and warns of the "ease with which teachers can lose a sense ofprofessional
selfwithout communities ofmutual support" (ibid.: 141). In a study ofhow novice
teachers described and assessed their experience in a learning community, Myer (2002)
concluded that such learning communities have much benefit for novice teachers as they
provide access to and participation in the learning community. They allow teachers to
develop a form ofcollegiality that enables members to provide each other with "critique
and support they identified as being missing in other venues for professional
development" (ibid.:39).
The various studies cited above suggest that teacher learning communities have much
potential as vehicles for teacher learning. The studies indicate that various models for
teacher development are employed in various contexts and that context is crucial in
determining the nature of the learning community and the extent ofteacher learning that
is likely to occur. As stated earlier, the South African teacher development landscape is a
diverse one, and although studies of teacher learning communities in developed countries
may not be easily extrapolated to a South African context, they do however offer useful
insights and possibilities for South African teacher development. These studies
acknowledge that teacher learning communities as vehicles for teacher development is an
under-researched area, an issue that is also pertinent to South African teacher
development research.
2.2.3 Formation and functioning of learning communities
The teaching profession has been constructed around norms ofprivacy. It is a challenging
and new experience for teachers to engage with the activity oftaking responsibility for
the learning ofother adult participants in a community (Grossman et al 2001). However,
in the teaching fraternity, organized professional development and inquiry groups that
comprise clusters of teachers do meet voluntarily to grapple with various challenges of
teaching, and to offer intellectual and emotional support for each other (Clark 2001). In
South Africa, such gatherings ofteachers are likely to occur within schools as whole
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