The aim of this paper is to give an account of the response of secondary schools to the primary school foreign language teaching initiative recently introduced by the UK government. The paper also explores defining features of the process of cross-phase interaction and the role that knowledge and collaborative practice plays in generating change…

We report on the experience of creating a socially networked system, the Research-oriented Social Environment (RoSE), for representing knowledge in the form of relationships between people, documents, and groups. Developed as an intercampus, interdisciplinary project of the University of California, this work reflects on a collaboration between…

This qualitative study examines the narratives of 27 new teachers as they grapple with social justice in the context of their classrooms. Informed by pedagogical perspectives regarding social justice education and new teacher mentorship, this research is framed by theories of communities of practice and professional knowledge landscapes. At the…

Informal learning takes place in the workplace through connection and collaboration mediated by Web 2.0 applications. However, little research has yet been published that explores informal learning and how to integrate it with workplace training. We aim to address this research gap by developing a conceptual Web 2.0-based workplace learning and…

Writing groups have been used in a variety of academic disciplines to support and encourage faculty in their scholarly endeavors. This article gives an overview of the impact a writing group within a Teacher Education department at a teaching institution had on scholarly output over a two year period. The structure of the writing group is shared…

There is a growing literature about conducting an action research that could help achieving significant changes in teachers' practices. Although an action research can contribute obtaining improvements, this process is not straight-line and without obstacles. The text elaborates three problems the author faced with while dealing with the action…

Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York, is a leader in the learning community movement. The college has run learning communities for many years, and more than half of its incoming freshmen were enrolled in one as of 2010. This Brief summarizes findings from an evaluation of the same title of Kingsborough's "Career-Focused…

Central to this dissertation was an examination of the role teachers' social networks play in schools as living organizations through three studies. The first study investigated the impact of teachers' social networks on teaching practices. Recent evidence suggests that teachers' social networks have a significant effect on teachers' norms,…

Using a life history approach, this article explores the ways in which women in the military who are also mothers learn to embody various masculinities and femininities as they negotiate workplace gender processes. Complex intersections of gendered communities of practice result in the participants' learning to variously understand, accept, shape…

This article explores several professional development models currently being used in the US and in other countries to support teacher learning, including coaching, mentoring and communities of practice. While in some contexts the activities of the participants are informed by social constructivist views of learning, the authors argue that…

Research about how teachers construct practitioner researcher identities is central to teacher education and professional development because it provides insight into how teachers continue to learn about and implement practices that meet the needs of their students. The paper explores how one fourth-grade teacher (Holly) constructed her…

During 2008 and 2009, a group of nine Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) from Canterbury met as a Community of Practice to investigate the way that play in the school playground contributes to the social competence of students. While the original concern was around the needs of students who were unable to manage their behaviour in…

A prominent feature of education discourse relating to teachers' practice has been the call for increased emphasis on professional development (PD). This paper is part of a wider project which explored the impact of a collaborative PD initiative on teachers' teaching and learning in five urban disadvantaged schools in Ireland. It focused on the…

This paper explores the informal and social learning dimensions of activists as they learn skills and knowledge through participating in social action. In doing this I draw on Lave and Wenger's epistemology of situated learning and Bourdieu's theory of "habitus". I argue activists learn an array of community development skills in the…

This research investigated how secondary school technology teachers planned and implemented units that enabled students to access authentic technological practice through their contact with a community of practice (CoP). It was found that when teachers plan to access a community of practice for their students a complex dance-style relationship…