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

Lave and Wenger emphasise the centrality ofthe notion of 'access' in the conception of
learning. Access to a range ofongoing activity, established members, information,
resources and opportunities for participation is essential so as to achieve full membership
of a community ofpractice. Learning is located in the increased access oflearners to the
practice ofa community. Thus, to maximise learning, one needs to maximise
participants' access to participation in the practice ofthe community that will allow for
continued development and evolution ofparticipants' identities.
The notion of 'legitimate peripheral participation' as the most important learning method
implies that 'ways ofbecoming a participant', 'ways ofparticipating' and 'ways in which
participants and practices change' are more useful and effective than particular tools and
techniques for learning. This has significant implications for conventional approaches to
teaching since the "teacher/learner dyad ... (becomes secondary to) ... a richly diverse
field ofessential actors ... (and) other forms ofrelations ofparticipation" (ibid.:56). This
departure from the conventional traditional teacherllearner dyad suggests a changed
emphasis from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning. In fact Lave and Wenger
assert that teaching is not a precondition for learning and may not be particularly useful
for learning. They base their work on developing a model for maximising learning as
opposed to providing a set ofguiding principles for teaching. They present a rather
negative view offormal learning in educational settings. The model's preoccupation with
reconceptualising learning has been at the expense ofalso reconceptualising teaching.
Evidence from a broader literature suggests that it is indeed problematic to underplay
significant elements ofdeliberate pedagogy. Many educationalists would argue that it is
dangerous to discount teaching in relation to learning, as most forms oftraditional
teaching have in fact been successful in relation to learning. This model presents even
bigger challenges when applied to the context oflearning in schools and the work of
teachers as the difficulty with respect to underplaying teaching is particularly great when
the theory is applied to education contexts.
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