A Community of practice for teacher education academics

This paper reports on the formation and early development of the Secondary Teacher Education Program (STEP) group. Throughout 2012 six teacher education academics participating in the development of STEP each gave a 60-minute presentation about the learning and teaching activities in their units and how they assessed students. Then at the start of 2013 each academic wrote a 500 word personal reflection and these were used to reflect on the impact of the presentations and consider possible future directions for the program. A research assistant, who was not a STEP member, interviewed each participating academic individually for about 20 minutes. The Research Assistant then analysed the reflections and interview responses in terms of Wenger’s (1998) three defining features of a community of practice; namely, mutual engagement, a joint enterprise, and a shared repertoire. Results indicate that the STEP group enhanced collegiality by enabling a better understanding of the challenges faced by others, strengthened common purpose and inclusion, and provided a rich opportunity to reflect on pedagogy and improve practice. The paper offers positive insight into a collaborative pedagogical culture for academics.