Physical Education Learning Communities and Their Development in Precarious Contexts

• In Event: Invisible College: Session 1

Abstract

In professional learning communities (PLCs) it is argued that the knowledge is situated in daily experiences and teachers learn by reflecting critically and collectively about those experiences (Vescio, Ross & Adams, 2008). Currently, a shift from individual teacher development to collaborative continuing professional development (CPD), mainly through PLCs, is recognized as desirable for teacher growth and school effectiveness (Hargreaves & O’Connor, 2017). However, while PLCs have been largely accepted as physical education teachers’ CPD strategy in the international scenario (Parker & Patton, 2017), they are still scarce in precarious contexts, such as in Brazil.
Different from the precarious conditions experienced in the Global North countries (Kirk, 2019), developing countries such as Brazil present “multiple forms of insecurity that destabilize daily life: health vulnerabilities, makeshift housing, environmental hazards, debt, incarceration, and crime and violence” (Millar, 2014, p. 34-35). It is argued that learning is context-specific in that social-political issues might influence not only what is learned but how (Lave &Wenger, 1991). Consequently, the fostering and development of PLCs in precarious conditions will potentially have to address different issues than those experienced in developed countries.
Seeking to understand this issue, a project was developed in one school in a socially vulnerable area in the countryside of Brazil in 2018. It intended to explore the CPD of physical education teachers, specifically trying to understand how a PLC could support the CPD of those teachers. In developing this project, different challenges and tensions were experienced, such: creating a PLC focused on member-driven learning that was founded on the teachers’ precarious reality and their emergent necessities; and running a PLC’s facilitation process that created spaces for teachers’ meaningful development. Despite this, affirming that PLC might be a possible strategy to teachers’ CPD in precarious contexts was seen as a benefit of this project. In this context however, PLCs seem to be different from those reported internationally. It was a not only a place for teachers’ learning but also to organize themselves to struggle and resist in their precarious situations.
These results open an avenue to future discussions, such as: first, what does mean effectiveness of CPD in a precarious context (in develop or developing countries)? It seems that when addressing the complexities of teachers’ CPD in precarious situations, underlying needs must be addressed before focusing on other concerns. Second, what is the sense of teachers’ empowerment in these contexts? Again, it can be argued that teachers’ empowerment is not only related to teachers’ autonomy and independence, but also, teachers’ organizing as a group to fight for better professional conditions.

Authors

• Luiza Lana Goncalves, University of São Paulo

• Melissa Parker, University of Limerick

• Carla Luguetti, Victoria University, Melbourne