Moving around my Professional Connections
Wegner-Trayner (2015) states 'a growing number of people and organisations in various sectors are now focusing on communities of practice as a key to improving their performance.' (p1)
'Communities of Practice can be seen as being a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly,' (Wegner-Trayner, 2015, p1)
Wegner-Trayner (2015) suggests that 'communities of practice are made up of 3 crucial characteristics:
The Domain - It has an identity defined by a shared domain of interest, a commitment to the domain and a shared competence that distinguishes members from other people. They value their collective competence and learn from each other. (Wegner-Trayner, 2015)
The Community - Members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other and share information. They care about their standing with each other and the members interact and learn together. The members do not need to work together daily to be a community of practice. (Wegner-Trayner, 2015)
The Practice - Members of the community of practice are practitioners who develop a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing reoccurring problems in a shared practice. (Wegner-Trayner, 2015)
Through this discussion I will outline how I work within and between these groups in an endeavour to better my practice, share ideas, experiences and / or improve my knowledge.
New Windsor School
The school is made up of many groups. These groups form the Community of Practice and I will some examples of these through each group.
Students
The Domain - School Council
The Community - Gather information from Student body of needs and wants.
The Practice - Looks for possible solutions to needs and wants
Parents
The Domain - School Board
The Community - Identifying the needs of the school - administratively, meeting Department of Education requirements, buildings, grounds, learning tools
The Practice - Use of personal and professional experiences to overcome, address or discuss problems or issues identified
Teachers
The Domain - Teaching the curriculum, specialising in curriculum areas, maintaining current practice requirements, exploring new methods of practice, working in Quality Professional groups to discuss professional development
The Community - Sharing ideas, experiences, resources and working collaboratively with others, and providing time to listen and support for each other during challenging times.
The Practice - Day to day teaching, meetings between group members, general discussions between colleagues.
Personal Goal: Over the next 2 years I will consolidate my practice in leading the PE team before looking at taking my skills to a new school to learn different systems and processes.
Teaching Council
The Domain - Each registered teacher needs to meet certain criteria of practice to remain on the register
The Community - Sharing ideas, experiences, resources and working collaboratively with others, and providing time to listen and support for each other during challenging times.
The Practice - Teachers engage in joint activities and discussions, they help each other and share information.
NZEI
The Domain - Members learn their rights and responsibilities to their employer.
The Community - Sharing ideas, experiences, resources and working collaboratively with others, and providing time to listen and support for each other during challenging times.
The Practice - Teachers engage in joint activities and discussions, they help each other and share information.
Education Ministry
The Domain - Teachers need to keep an eye on any Ministry directive to ensure that the directive is in the best interest of the students and their learning.
The Community - Teachers and Principal of the New Windsor School
The Practice - Teachers engage in joint activities and discussions, they help each other and share information.
Sport Waitakere
The Domain - Organising inter school events (i.e. Athletics Day, Swimming Carnivals etc) between schools. Providing Professional development for teachers and organising identified sport for the students.
The Community - The students and teachers of New Windsor School
The Practice - Teachers up-skill themselves through participating in professional development and in participation when their class is being taken by the Sport facilitator.
Whau Cluster of Schools
The Domain - Organisation of Sport between and with schools in the Cluster
The Community - Come together to discuss and organise up coming inter school events
The Practice - Principals, Teachers or Sports co-ordinators work together in organising sporting events.
SPARC
The Domain - Organising physical education for all students. Getting students active. Focus will be on physical education for all and less focus on targeting sport.
The Community - A working group to organise how the 'Sport Activator' will work between the participating schools. The group will include those interested from the existing 'Whau Cluster of Schools' and must also included interested Intermediate Schools and local Secondary School.
The Practice - Invited Principals and school representatives to be part of a working initiative alongside existing the programme(s).
Unitec and Auckland University
The Domain - Taking Courses to improve practice
The Community - Teachers and Principal's
The Practice - Teachers trying to up skill, share experiences and ideas, and learn any techniques or processes to improve learning
Alumni: Same as above as Teachers are exposed to other practitioners whom they wouldn't usually work with, teachers create opportunities to share experiences and ideas.
Mindlab
The Domain - Taking Courses to improve practice
The Community - Teachers and Principal's
The Practice - Whilst working through this course I have been able to network a group of practitioners who were looking to advance their knowledge and practice in their everyday practice.
Possible Goal: Should Mindlab introduce a Post Graduate Diploma in Applied Practice (Digital and Collaborative Learning) then I would enrol to work towards obtaining my Masters degree.
References
Wenger-trayner.com. (2015). Introduction to communities of practice | Wenger-Trayner. Retrieved from http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/
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