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To take this challenge on Shraddha had to start over by learning from others. She states that much of her learning involved learning from other teachers in the school but mostly from her head of department in Technology – “In Technology my HoD was experienced and I had to learn from him, practice at home and teach it the next day” (Journal entry 3). Her learning therefore happened collaboratively. Being novice in these subjects she had a great need to learn content knowledge. Thus, she sought planned intervention from her peers and her HoD, however, her learning was informal in that their interaction was informal rather than in a structured meeting.
In Technology Shraddha was highly dependent on learning her content knowledge from both HOD and peers. She therefore had on site support and learning. She also found that she needed to do more than this to learn, therefore “I also used textbooks and read
whatever I could.” Thus her learning was both social and individual. Also, she enrolled for a course in Technology to supplement the learning she had so far gained informally.
With regard to Tourism she was faced with a greater challenge as she was the only educator teaching the subject in the school. She therefore had to seek assistance from teachers in other schools. She recorded in her journal entry 3 “I had to network with teachers from other schools.” Here we see that Shraddha’s learning was influenced by collaboration with other teachers outside her own school. She also makes it clear that learning in this way was necessary for her to develop in these learning areas.
Shraddha shows no qualms about consulting with teachers in other schools. In fact, it appears that Tourism teachers in particular, have established an active community of teachers constantly sharing ideas and seeking clarity from each other. It is evident here that Shraddha’s learning does take place socially in a community of Tourism teachers.
Shraddha’s description of this community, which seems to have emerged from their
contacts in both the marking centres and cluster meetings appears to provide much needed support for teachers of this fairly new subject in ex- HoD schools. Shraddha admits in the photo voice interview:
By networking with all the other people you find out where we went wrong and what we should have done. It helped me a lot in that way because there are ways in which
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other people do things that are sometimes much better than what I do, example, the way they do their portfolios…
From this it is evident that apart from Shraddha seeking content knowledge, she also gains pedagogic knowledge in this community.
The school at which Shraddha teaches encourages teachers to work collaboratively. Here she works closely with her HoD and peers. She found that she had to first learn content from them, practice it at home, before trying to teach it to her learners. She declares that with this particular subject (Technology) it was rather challenging as she does not have a maths background, which is a prerequisite for such a subject. However, with the support of her HoD and peers she felt that she was able to successfully transform into a Technology teacher. Her experience highlights the need for onsite support in teacher learning. In journal entry 5 she recorded:
He (HoD) showed me how to do drawings and guided me through the Technology syllabus. He even guided me with regard to assessments. Mr. T is also part of our group and we share knowledge.
Another example of working as a team was evident in the moments of planning that happen at subject committee meetings and cluster meetings. Shraddha found these meetings useful in how she planned her teaching strategies and sequenced her lessons. She shows that she is comfortable learning in a community of teachers. One of the benefits she claims in the photo voice interview of working in such a community is gaining insight into how to deal with challenges. She cites an example of how this forum helped her with a Practical Assessment Task (PAT) component of Tourism which she initially found too daunting. A fellow colleague from a neighbouring school discussed at a cluster meeting how she designed a method that made her work easier. Other teachers found her idea most
rewarding and all teachers are now using that method. The whole idea of sharing and being supportive keeps the community of teachers functional and alive. Shraddha said in the photo voice interview:
Even though we are at a workshop, we talk among ourselves and don’t go empty handed – whenever we have meetings, even cluster meetings, each of us goes with something that we
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prepared during the course of the year. We leave the box there and find that educators – especially the young ones come in.
From this example we can see that these teachers attach a lot of value to working in a community or learning socially. They learn with and from each other developing their different knowledges (content, pedagogic and pedagogic content).
Shraddha explained in the photo voice interview that the liaison with these teachers extends beyond their meetings. They are in constant contact telephonically, by email etc.
regarding their subject matter. They share assistance with both content and pedagogic knowledge. An example of this was when she was confronted with a new section to teach.
She recalled in the interview:
A section on Time Zones and Car Hire was new to me…. it has a complex section involving calculations which learners find difficult to comprehend. Mrs. P helped me here. I made an appointment with her after school…. Her experience in Tourism and the teaching of the above helped me tremendously.
Once again Shraddha’s learning involves interaction/ collaboration with another teacher.
This time she seeks guidance from a more experienced teacher in the field. Her initiative to learn displays her self motivation or willingness to learn. Here we see how she took the initiative to plan a meeting with someone who could help her learn.
The teachers that form this group illustrate that a sense of community is necessary to support teachers in their jobs. Shraddha even exchanges information with a Tourism teacher in the Eastern Cape and receives information about content from her son abroad.
Speaking about how the teachers in this community have helped her develop as a
competent tourism teacher, Shraddha wrote in her journal entry 5, “In addition they have provided support for all problems relating to this subject. I owe them an awful lot of thanks as they have contributed to my development in Tourism.”
Shraddha also attaches a lot of value to resources in her teaching, especially with regard to Tourism. Photographs 2, 5, 6 & 7 depict the various resources that help her stay abreast
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with the content, keep in touch with other educators and indicate the support she receives from the Department of Education in terms of resource material.
She admits that the nature of a subject like Tourism is such that the teacher needs to be well informed about what is happening in the world. She explained in the photo voice interview:
We deal with a lot of currencies and politics – political situations in different countries so we have to be in constant contact with the media….everyday the currencies change – we have to put the currencies up on the board.