What matters in learning communities for inclusive education: a cross-case analysis

Walton, Elizabeth; Carrington, Suzanne; Saggers, Beth; Edwards, Chris; Kimani, Wacango

Abstract

© 2019 International Professional Development Association (IPDA). Implementing inclusive education requires on-going commitment to teachers’ professional learning. One way of implementing professional learning is to develop learning communities based on Lave and Wenger’s ideas of situated learning and learning as social practice. Learning communities, drawing on models of Professional Learning Communities and communities of practice, were designed to build capacity for inclusive teaching in two rural schools in Australia and a peri-urban school in South Africa. This paper reports on a multi-case study that involves a cross-case analysis of these three learning communities. We demonstrate that across the three cases, responsiveness to contextual exigencies matters, expertise matters and supportive networks matter. These findings are further illuminated by complexity theory which draws attention to learning communities operating at the confluence of a number of interacting systems, as well as the possibility of change where teacher learning occurs through the recontextualisation of knowledge and learning across boundaries. Our findings support situated learning that values collaboration to develop social and inclusive cultures and practice in schools. The findings also have the potential to inform planning for professional learning for inclusive education.

Citation

Walton, E., Carrington, S., Saggers, B., Edwards, C., & Kimani, W. (2019). What matters in learning communities for inclusive education: a cross-case analysis. Professional Development in Education, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2019.1689525

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 13, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Nov 11, 2019
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: Jan 3, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 2, 2020
• Journal: Professional Development in Education
• Print ISSN: 1941-5257
• Electronic ISSN: 1941-5265
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 1-15
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2019.1689525
• Keywords: Education
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3612149
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19415257.2019.1689525
• Additional Information: Peer Review Statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope.; Aim & Scope: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=rjie20; Received: 2019-04-28; Accepted: 2019-10-13; Published: 2019-11-11