Teacher educators are frequently responsible for conducting research and writing for publication, while dealing with the most effective way to engage preservice students in becoming a teacher. Yet, there is a paucity of research examining teacher educators’ responsibility for their own continued professional learning (Brody & Hadar, 2011; Cochran-Smith, 2003). Communities of practice (CoP) and professional learning communities represent an increasingly utilized learning strategy with potential to give rise to praxis between practice-based learning and pedagogy (Watson, 2014) by addressing participant identified need, collaborative problem solving, continuity, and support (Parker, Patton, & Tannehill, 2012). The purpose of this study was to examine teacher educators’ expectations of and motives for joining physical education teacher education CoP. Specific research questions were: Why do individuals express an interest in engaging in a CoP? What do they envision will be associated benefits?
Method:
Participants included teacher educators (N=35) representing seven physical education teacher education CoP in the US, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Groups included inter- and intra- university CoP with varied goals. Yet, regardless of the location all were participant originated and non-mandated, focusing on self-generated problems. Data sources included formal and informal interviews, field notes, and related artifacts. Interview data were analyzed using open and axial coding (Corbin & Strauss, 2008).
Analysis/Results:
Teacher educators reported frequently feeling isolated both personally and professionally. Therefore, their motives for participation in a CoP were discussed in terms of moving from isolation to collaboration. The variety of anticipated benefits included personal professional learning, programmatic improvement, and betterment of the larger physical education profession. Teacher educators expressed that CoP represented the potential to enhance their pedagogic, inquiry, and supervisory abilities, while broadening their repertoire of research skills and productivity. Teacher educators also described their participation as a means to explore the logic of their practices and recognize discordant values, allowing them to become an agent of change.
Conclusions:
Revealing their motives and expectations for their participation in CoP, these teacher educators acknowledged the potential of CoP as a bridge between breaking through their personal and professional isolation to improvement of their own teaching and research practice. Hence engagement in CoP may afford a means to counter some of the individualism existing within higher education, while fostering professional learning to enhance teacher education.