Communities of practice

The idea that we learn with experienced others who are pursuing a similar purpose to our own easily resonates with most practitioners’ experience of their professional development. In Lave and Wenger’s theory our professional development journey is also a movement from the periphery to the centre of a practice domain as we become more confident that our practice is congruent with the expectations of our peers and can contribute to the shared goals.

This perspective on professional development can be helpful in informing how we think about developing ourselves as professionals as well as how we can support the development of others. It has been readily adopted in the corporate sector to help manage professional knowledge in large organizations and to encourage innovation. It is increasingly being applied in the public sector to help workers respond to change together.

New communication technologies make it more and more possible for professionals to connect with peers with similar interests and challenges - not only in their own local context but across the country, across organizations and even internationally. There is a recognition that such connections can not only support personal learning but also increase our collective knowledge of practice.

In the CLD sector in Scotland, this model is influencing the design of new programmes of professional learning – for example in the TQAL project which explicitly aimed to foster the development of a community of practice of Adult Literacies practitioners across Scotland. Evaluation of the programmme ‘suggests that participation on TQAL has generated an enthusiasm and a greater sense of connectedness which extends beyond attendance at the course. This was evident by discussion of a more discernible community of practice amongst practitioners and key informants which was cited as weak or mainly existing amongst non practitioners prior to TQAL’ (Wilson et al, 2011, p.15).

In the formal education sector, the idea has led to an approach to professional learning in ‘learning communities’, where the emphasis is on teachers coming together to explore new ideas and ways of working and sharing their experiences of experimenting with these in their own school context.

Virtual Communities

As the new communication technologies become central to working life, they are being exploited to make access to practice and learning communities more available to all, regardless of the constraints of their local context. Online ‘networks’ and ‘communities of practice’, such as CoPAL, are proliferating, affording us the opportunity to share and learn with colleagues at a distance.

But are online ‘networks’ and ‘communities of practice’ the same thing? They can be. A network can become a community of practice if it not only allows you to connect with others but also enables people to learn from one another and for each person to contribute to learning about the shared practice. In ‘learning communities’, the focus is even more explicitly on learning and innovating together.

Local Communities

Although the term is currently at risk of becoming applied only to virtual networks, an approach to professional development based on the concept of communities of practice would also take account of learning together through social processes at work and in localities. For example the idea of legitimate peripheral participation, central to Lave and Wenger’ s research, could inform local approaches to induction; it provides a rationale for job shadowing and mentoring schemes.

Drawing upon this model to consider how we support the professional development of others might lead us to question how we can help colleagues access not only formal training but also the informal spaces for professional discussion. It is often the chance encounter or conversation at the photocopier or over a tea break which can set us thinking differently about what we are doing. But does everyone have access to these social situations? Is there time in the working week to swop the stories which help us reflect on and learn from what we are doing?

Wenger describes the characteristics of a vital community of practice. How many of these characteristics are evident in your practice context? Could more of these developmental processes be encouraged?

Communities of practice then, is a useful way to think about CLD. Our own and others. We can ask ourselves where are we already learning through engaging with like-minded others? Are there other ‘communities of practice’ – including those online - that we could participate in for our continuing professional development. Can we nurture existing communities and make practice development a more explicit aim within them? Can we create an environment in which communities grow and are cultivated?

As Wenger asserts, ‘communities of practice’ are not new. But paying more attention to them may make them a richer source of continuing professional development.

According to Wenger the following are characteristic behaviours in an effective community of practice.

(table adapted from www.ewenger.com)

• How many of these behaviours are evident in your own practice context?
• How might you support behaviours that are not currently evident?
• Choose one or two of the behaviours that you would like to strengthen, discuss these with your colleagues and plan how you might do more of these things together over the next month.