Communities of Practice

The inquiry topics I have narrowed my focus down to are “Key Competencies in Leadership”, “Leading Change” and “Teacher Inquiry into Student Learning”. My plan is to hopefully narrow this down to two by the conclusion of this blog. A community of practice that is cultivated and effectively operates can result in improved practice, “Communities of practice are a practical way to frame the task of managing knowledge. They provide a concrete organisational infrastructure for realising the dream of a learning organisation.” (Wenger, McDermott & Snyder, 2002, Preface, para. 2). Communities of Practice have three elements – ‘Community’, (Mutual Engagement), ‘Domain’ (Joint Enterprise) and ‘Practice’ (Shared Repertoire). For the purposes of my inquiry topics, my community would be the senior management team and team leaders that I work with. There would also be contact with different teachers across the team and our Learning Assistants. The domain would be the platform of the inquiry and the shared learning about this. The practise would include the combined community skills, knowledge and experiences we have when we work together. We will need to work collaboratively to share and learn. From my perspective as part of the Senior Management team, the inquiry will help staff to complete their appraisal through an inquiry process. For the team leaders, the inquiry process will first need to be learned through professional development and then passed down to the teachers within their teams. For those who have already had professional development in the use of inquiry into student learning, the process will be easier as they already have a basic understanding. They may be able to support the others who have less experience. These staff will be the early adopters and will move ahead to help put procedures in place. Early adopters are also useful for helping those less knowledgeable or skilled in seeing the benefits and advantages. In the early part of the setting up of the new appraisal process within our school, not all staff could see the benefit of using teaching as inquiry to inform practise. However after recent professional development, the senior management and team leaders were able to build a deeper understanding and could see the benefits of using this approach. Hopefully this enthusiasm will filter down to other staff. The purpose of the Teaching as Inquiry cycle is to improve outcomes for all students. The cycle is developed to be a framework that teachers can use to help them learn from their practice (Ministry of Education, 2009). If we are expecting our students to meet the key competencies of the New Zealand curriculum, how can we as leaders of curriculum show these and also supporting our staff? (Ministry of Education, 2009b). (Murphy, 2017) talks about leaders needing key dispositions, knowledge and skills to develop and lead change within schools and how the key competencies underpin these. With this in mind, I think upon reflection that this helps me to narrow down my inquiry to two topics - “Key Competencies in Leadership” and “Leading Change”. These combined could be effective in my helping support staff to learning to use teacher inquiry to improve student learning. Knox, B. (2009, December 4). Cultivating Communities of Practice: Making Them Grow.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhMPRZnRFkk Ministry of Education (2009a). Teaching as Inquiry. Retrieved from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-stories/Case-studies/Teachers-as-learners-Inquiry/Teaching-as-inquiry Ministry of Education (2009b). Key Competencies in Leadership. Retrieved from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-stories/Media-gallery/Key-competencies/Key-competencies-in-leadership Murphy, M. (2017). Key Competencies in Leadership. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/225809358