My Community of Practice Explained.

My Community of Practice

Initially, I created my community of practice in a visual form, a way to decipher who I thought all the members of my community actually were.

I then did some reading around the definitions of what a COP is.

Lave and Wenger (1991) define this COP as a group of people who share a craft or profession. This group is formed through a common interest in a specific area and may or may not be created deliberately.

They state that ‘It is through the process of sharing information and experiences with the group that members learn from each other and have the opportunity to develop personally and professionally” (lave and Wenger 1991). It is obvious then that, having a strong community fosters interactions and the sharing of ideas.

I am Special Education Needs Coordinator in a secondary school. My community of practice is large and varied. Using the definition above, I believe that my community’s common interest is more long term but that on a daily/weekly basis we are individual pieces of a puzzle collectively scaffolding the student to achieve that long term goal.

A comment was made to me the other day around why I had included certain people within my community of practice. I decided to list the groups with some of my reasoning.

The members of my community of practice are and in no particular order-

SENCO’s from throughout the province. (I am also part of a more virtual community of SENCO’s on a national level). The provincial group meet once a term to share knowledge, concerns, support and ideas around areas such as learning, physical needs and support, community needs, advancements in technological support, school needs etc.

By sharing our knowledge, we are building a brighter future for our students and providing teachers with information and skills to better support themselves and the students.

The students themselves. They bring knowledge about their dreams and aspirations which gives us a starting platform. Mostly also have an idea of the help they need to achieve these dreams. This help can come in many forms but is commonly – physical, technological often emotional and knowledge based.

Whanau. No one understands their children and their strengths and needs better than the family. Within our learning area the family and the school make contact in most cases weekly, with a couple of families touching base daily and finally in relation to several other families- monthly. The twice a year individual education plans (IEP) are a deliberate time to touch base and ensure that no area for the student has been overlooked nor no new knowledge around learning or health has failed to be passed on.

Teacher Aides. All my students work with teacher aides. Two students have teacher aide support throughout the school day, others for several periods a day. The teacher aides bring practical knowledge around the students needs to the teachers ensuring students are able to belong in mainstream classrooms. They also bring knowledge of what’s needed in the mainstream to me so I can support the teachers.

Ministry of Education personal – RTLB’s, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech language therapists, assistive technology experts. Individually and collectively these people provide the assistance and means for our students to feel like they belong and to support their success at school.

Careers Department /Community Organisations. These people provide opportunities for my students when they reach the senior school to experience working in the community.

Teaching Colleagues. Sharing their expertise and taking on board expert advise to support learning in the mainstream school.

Senior Management Team. Supporting myself to ensure all needs are being met within my area and the mainstream school. They also ensure that all health and safety issues are met.

All these people have created a community that will support the student to not only be an active and successful member of the school, but to also have the technology, experiences and knowledge to be an active and integral member of our wider community once they leave school.