Communities of Practice - week 1

I have been a Science teacher for the past ten years and as such have seen much change in terms of the pedagogical techniques employed in the classroom.  Now as part of a teacher’s certificated teaching criteria number 12  states that a teacher “use critical inquiry and problem-solving effectively in their professional practice” and indeed 12 (i) states teachers should “systematically and critically engage with “evidence and professional literature to reflect on and refine practice”.

Now while I believe I have done this in the many hours staring at the bottom of a swimming pool as I hoon up and down the lane, it hasn’t been documented but has been acted on.  Indeed I believe my best reflection comes while engaged with physical exercise and many a day has been spent on my cycle home, about 50 minutes, thinking about  what went well or not so well and how to improve or adapt the activities.

However as a requirement of the Mindlab course we have been required to reflect using a blog.  This to me is an uncomfortable exercise as I have never been one to write my thoughts or express myself through the written word.  I expect the feeling this generates in me is the equivalent to how most people feel about  being dropped off in the middle of a lake a kilometre from shore and told to swim shore, a sense of fear and panic.

Over the next 8 weeks I will attempt to write a reflective blog.

Communties of Practice
Communities of practice (CoP) was first defined by Lave and Wenger in 19911.  A CoP can be described for the purpose of this blog as “as a process of social learning that occurs when people who have a common interest in a subject or area collaborate over an extended period of time, sharing ideas and strategies, determine solutions, and build innovations”2. This in many ways could be seen as a definition of class of students in a high school who are trying to achieve success in end of year NCEA examination.

Indeed over this coming year I plan to significantly change a CoP that could that is labelled as Year 11 Science by moving to a digital and collaborative learning environment that incorporates a blended pedagogy.  Ultimately with the aim to become paperless.

What do Communties of Practice require?
According to Wenger to be considered a CoP it needs three basic constituents2:
Domain which means there needs to be a defined or shared area of interest.  The domain in this case can be considered the Year 11 Science class made up of 30 students who are commitment to achieving success at NCEA level 1 Science.

Community is the constituent where members of a domain collaborate in shared activities sharing information intergroup. Again this community the student share learning experiences and indeed help each other through practical assessment where cooperation and collaboration are essential to achieve these standards.

Practice where by the members, read students, develop and shared resources and all are striving to achieve an individual but shared goal.  In this case the students are involved in practical exercises where a method needs to be developed, modified and best practice shared amongst  the community.

By developing a CoP that is significantly divergent from the wider Year 11 Science classes is going to be a challenging journey but with the aim of improving student outcomes and developing resources and best practices which can be broadened into other CoP’s such as the Science department.  I believe the time, effort and stress will be worthwhile.

Thank for taking the time to read this blog.



1Lave J. (1991) Situating learning in Communities of Practice Perspectives of Socially Shared Cognition, 2, 63-82
2https://www.learning-theories.com/communities-of-practice-lave-and-wenger.html