A community’s practice: A case study of professional development among vocational and arts teachers

Since considerable resources are invested in the professional development of teachers, there is an urgent need to investigate various models. In Sweden, schools often use thoroughly structured continuing professional development packages for teachers – with pre-set goals, methods, and questions to discuss. The aim of the present study is to gain knowledge about how professional development is constituted in a specific teacher community, within the context of teaching and assessing practical knowing. A group of arts and vocational teachers at a Swedish upper secondary school voluntarily engaged in a year-long developmental Teacher Community (TC), in which explorative talk about teaching is central. Podcasts created in teams of two after peer observations and group meetings are analysed at multiple levels to identify what they talk about and how. Based on the analyses of the explorative discussions, we used the theory of Communities of Practice to understand specific features of the practice of the teachers’ professional development. The main result is that, while the teachers are building a strong common platform for professional development through their TC, the learning processes are solitary journeys and their individual professional responsibility. One of the characteristics of the interaction within the TC is the absence of critical approaches to peers, which is often prompted as a prerequisite by previous research. Instead, with esteem as characteristic for the explorative discussions, the TC demonstrates complex reasoning on professional identity and an eagerness to learn more from others about teaching practical knowing. Finally, we suggest alternatives to overly structured CPD packages with pre-set goals and methods.