Developing a communal identity as beginning teachers of mathematics: Emergence of an

From Section:
Beginning Teachers
Published:
Feb. 15, 2008

Source: Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, Issue Volume 11, Number 1 / February, 2008 Pages 41-60

The aim of this study is to investigate how a community of practice focused on becoming a teacher of secondary school mathematics emerged during a pre-service teacher education programme and was sustained after students graduated and began their first year of full-time teaching in schools.
Bulletin board discussions of one pre-service cohort are analysed in terms of Wenger’s (1998) three defining features of a community of practice: mutual engagement of participants, negotiation of a joint enterprise, and development of a shared repertoire for creating meaning.

Emergence of the online community was associated with our own role in facilitating professional dialogue, the voluntary and unstructured nature of participation, initial face-to-face interaction that created familiarity and trust, and the convenience of using email rather than logging on to a website. The study shows that the emergent design of the community contributed to its sustainability in allowing the pre-service and beginning teachers to define their own professional goals and values.

Reference: 


Wenger, E., Communities of Practice:  Learning as a Social System. Systems Thinker, June, 1998.


Updated: Jan. 17, 2017
Keywords:
Community of practice | Internet use | Mathematics | Preservice students