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

distinction between ideals and practice..." (ibid.: 18). Increasing pressures on teachers
frequently completely frustrate educational aims to the extent that teachers are forced to
adopt certain strategies that masquerade as teaching. Educational goals are almost always
impeded by obstructions that might arise from "inadequate resources, a high teacher­
pupil ratio, the recalcitrant nature of some pupils, and the organization ofthe school"
(Woods 1983:10).
Teachers develop a range ofstrategies that constantly change depending on the nature of
the situation. "Developing and maintaining strategies is not a simple matter. The more
complicated the goal, the more complex the strategy ... It is the problems that intervene
between intention and risk that give strategies their character. Schools are places that
invite complex strategies, for (teachers') ideals are strong, yet the gap between ideals and
practice is large" (Woods 1983: 10). Beginning teachers whose ideals are more
pronounced have to deal with disjunction between their theories and practice. In his study
of student teachers, Lacey (1997) identified three types ofsocial strategy for dealing with
difficulties. First, 'strategic compliance' which refers to a situation where an individual
merely complies with the demands ofa situation in order to survive; secondly,
'internalised adjustment' is when an individual makes a change in her thinking or
modifies her thinking about a situation to deal with the demands it creates; and thirdly,
'strategic redefinition' is when an individual interprets the conditions ofa situation so
that the problem is perceived as something that can be dealt with at another appropriate
level.
A complex theoretical model for understanding teachers' coping strategies was developed
by Pollard (1982). In this model there are three 'analytical layers' for understanding the
interactive process ofcoping strategies. The first two layers, those of 'social structure and
organisational leadership' and 'institutional bias' are 'macro layers' while the third, that
of 'classroom social structure' is, a micro layer concern (Pollard 1982:32). He also points
to the physical and material structure ofthe classroom setting, biographical factors,
(social status and cultural perspectives) ofboth teachers and pupils as important variables
in the analysis ofteachers' coping strategies. He refers to the concepts of
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