Teacher professional development is one of the most effective ways to combat the learning crisis. When teachers learn together as peers – in groups known as ‘communities of practice’ – their professional development becomes more effective and sustainable. These collaborative networks help practitioners to develop shared understandings and engage in professional knowledge-building.
In this study, we focus on the ways in which communities of practice (CoPs) supported educators in lower income countries throughout the crisis of the pandemic. It builds on our ambitious research study in Kenya and Rwanda (2018-22), Teachers Learning Together, which explored how CoPs can be used in low-resource contexts to facilitate teachers’ professional learning and improvement in classroom practice at scale. The CoP models in Kenya and Rwanda are part of large-scale interventions, both FCDO-funded by the UK government, that aim to improve foundational learning outcomes for all learners in challenging contexts. They do this by offering continuous and practical support to educators with peer learning at the heart of their professional development.
Pre-pandemic, each country had a distinct model and delivery approach to teacher collaborative learning. When the crisis hit, it was necessary to reconfigure CoPs in response to school closures and reopening. The use of low-tech modalities – such as WhatsApp groups – to support remote or virtual CoPs proved to be a particularly important approach for sustaining collaboration between teachers, school leaders, learners and their families. It helped to ensure education continuity as well as wellbeing and targeted support for vulnerable learners and girls.
This research examines not only how CoPs impact teaching and learning during crises, but also illustrates practices that might be important in CoP implementation beyond times of disruption.
