Monday 2 October 2017

Applied Practice in Context - Week 25

Community of Practice

OK - What is a CoP?

A Community of Practice is not a new concept and Wenger writes that they are 'age-old' (Wenger 2011) phenomenon. Many organisations are using this concept deliberately to focus on knowing and learning which in turn is evidenced as Improving the performance of organisations.

What is my CoP? And How is it actually focussing on my knowing and my learning to improve my Teaching Practice?
  1. I belong to distinctly different CoP’s
  2. There is a CoP within my Syndicate and within my School and within my School’s Special Character.
  3. Over time my school has belonged to various Cop’s

To improve teaching practice THE COMMUNITY my school currently belongs to is a CoL Community of Learning called the Whitestone Hui Ako. It has been running for a year and so the progress so far has mainly been the founding by the involved Principals who have created a joint purpose and Focus for improving learning outcomes for students across the Community.  
There have been opportunities created within each school and across all schools for Experts to be employed from within our Community to provide a local dedicated resource enabling all teachers to reflect on, grow and improve their practice and in turn transform and enhance student outcomes.  
All teachers and schools have been encouraged and supported to begin reflecting on their personal practices using the Spiral of Inquiry model (Timperley et.al) for Personal Development in a chosen area of practice.

For me the most interesting thing so far is the discussion and feedback from all the individual teachers across the Community of Practice. We all go to work to help all our students achieve to the best of their ability.  That is the single most positive observation I have noted thus far.

We are growing our sense of Belonging to the community because of the interactions and support and vision which is both Visible, frequent and Collaborative in its delivery.
To develop Community PRACTICE we as practitioners  have been enabled to share resources, and  dialogue has been opened up where in the past there may have been barriers in place such as Professional Jealousy or guarding one’s own secrets to success. 

I think the leaders of our Whitestone Hui Ako Community of Practice have successfully begun to change the MINDSET of individual practitioners Management and Schools, and opened wide the concept of Collaboration across our Early childhood, Primary, and Secondary school participants.  
It has finally set the stage for some purposeful PLD.

References:
Etienne and Beverley Wenger-Traynor, 2015 Introduction to Communites of Practise.     http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice
Etienne and Beverley Wenger-Traynor, 2011 What is a Community of Practise?              http://wenger-trayner.com/resources/what-is-a-community-of-practice/
Carol Dweck, 2010 What is Mindset?                                   
Timperley, H., Kaser, L., & Halbert, J. (2014). A framework for transforming learning in schools: Innovation and the spiral of inquiry. Victoria: Centre for Strategic Education










5 comments:

  1. Its encouraging to see there is a growing sense of this community at the grassroots level. Its interesting to think about how different communities align. You've mentioned syndicate, school, Special Character and COL. It is very hard when we are involved with communities that do not align. For instance an example from recently was the proposal to do a joint learning inquiry in the last couple of weeks of term, when the junior syndicate would be doing their Christmas pageant - that would be a conflict of energy and alignment for the junior syndicate. Its similar on the COL level - the principals have talked so much for so long because none of us want to compromise our own schools. We all have strong goals and visions for our school and don't want to waste any time diluting or randomising that vision. Communication is so important. During this process its also made it clear to me that although online or virtual communication can have its place in professional growth - nothing can take the place of personal face-to-face communication, vulnerability and trust-building.

    Plus its underlined the importance of vision. If something is to change or develop - WHY? - does it further the vision? If there is a conflict in what is going to happen - which way best embodied the vision? Also the importance of keeping the school goals intact whilst negotiating how to collaborate with others to help all parties.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes - aligning the Communities we belong to can be tricky and at times seem impossible even if at the very centre the reason for our being is the children we teach. So the Vision then becomes vital as you say. It takes so much energy to 'change the hat you wear' depending on the community you are involved with at the time which could change several times in a day, and teachers are known for making many decisions and prioritizing - so a clever Community of practice will have a strong Vision.

      Delete
    2. The Vision is the yardstick for everything else. Does it fit the vision? - yes = do it? Does it fit the vision? - no = drop it. Simple. Hard part is getting a communal understanding of the meaning (internalisation) of the vision. So sometimes you might drop something that a group of people feel is integral to their interpretation of the vision. So not simple at all. Interesting reflection on principalship - it shouldn't all be about the principal - but the principal's embodiment and living interpretation of the vision - will at the end of the day be what guides the school. So back to - no pressure!

      Delete
    3. Vision is key. I can think of one particular Community we belong to where the Vision is.... multi threaded? is that the descriptor? So in a professional Community context hard decisions must be made. As you write the Communal understanding must be understood. I can't help but think the Beehive are going through this a process this week to come to a Communal Understanding of the Vision for Leading our Country for the next 3 years. Its important to have a nuts and bolts plan to support the vision and as you say it might be reworked at times. It is most likely tough at the 'delivery' face of a Vision because of the human element and that is where sound practice and evidence support decision making.

      Delete
    4. Multi-threaded vision is a real challenge. I think that makes it not a communal vision just the visions of a group of individuals gathered together in loose agreement of what they are about. Its hard work to establish a vision and until its there decisions can't be made - just put off. But that's a whole other story.

      Delete