Introduction
The
existence of man on the earth is the basis of formation of community for his endurance,
in order to fulfill his social, economical and moral needs. Man cannot live in
isolation as we are born to live in a community, where different people have different
abilities and they are contributing to the society not only for their survival
but for the survival of a community as a whole.
Every
individual in a community is learning from the other members of the community.
According to my understanding the notion of learning community is not new, it
was there in the early times when humans lived in a form of group and learned
to cultivate land and hunting animals for their livelihood. This shows that
human beings are learning from their surroundings and from other people since
the beginning of the world.
The notion
of community as learning community emerges in the nineties when sergiovanni
used this word (learning community) in a conference in 1993.This notion of
learning community is now being used in the field of education, where schools
are in the process of transforming into a learning organization, moving to
community of practice and thereon to achieve the ultimate goal of a learning
community (Retallick andDatoo, 2005).
In this paper,
I aimed to describe the difference between learning community, learning
organization and community of practice but before that I will discuss the brief
definitions of the above mentioned notions. After that I reflect on my school
as a learning community along with the action plan and my role in the
development of school as a learning community.
Learning Community
According to the Yarnit (2000),
“learning community addresses the learning needs of its locality through
partnership. It uses the strengths of social and institutional relationships to
bring about cultural shifts in perceptions of the value of learning communities
explicitly use learning as a way promoting social cohesion, regeneration and
economic development which involves all parts of the community.” (p.11).
As students
of educational leadership and management we have subject of School as a
learning community, we proposed the following definition of learning community
in a group according to our understanding “A learning community is a team of
individuals, motivated by common interest and shared knowledge, which support
and work with each other and their ultimate aim is to enhance team members
learning.”(Group 2 of School as Learning Community M.Ed- 2011).
In the
light of these definitions the notion of school as a learning community
considered to be the place of learning not only for students but also a place
which provides opportunity of learning for all stakeholders with shared vision
and purpose.
Learning Organization
The concept
of learning organization originated by Senge’s (1990), model of the five
disciplines of a learning organization. His beliefs that knowledge needs to be
integrated, shared across the disciplines within the team having shared vision
which intend to provide the opportunity to the individuals in the organization
to expand their abilities in fostering life long learning. In our society
schools are seems to be bureaucratic form of organization and need to be
transformed into the learning organization where all the stakeholders are
working as a team with the aim of continuous learning as an individual as well as
the group as a whole.
Community of Practice
Communities
of practice are not a new kind of organizational unit; rather, they are a different
cut on the organization’s structure one that emphasizes the learning that
people have done together rather than the unit they report to, the project they
are working on as a group (Wenger,1998).When people in school are engage in
different activities like reflective practices, team building are consider as
learning community of practice, where these people are actually creating, sharing,
organizing, revising and passing knowledge within and among these communities. In
a deep sense, it is by these communities that knowledge is owned in practice.
My understanding of learning community, learning organization and Community of practice
According
to my understanding learning organization are made up of people who share
common purpose. They collaborate to draw on individual strengths, respect a
variety of perspectives, and actively promote learning opportunities. When
different learning organizations are working together they formed the learning
community and the people who are
involve in the process of transforming
learning community are termed as community of practice.
I will
elaborate my understanding by taking AKU-IED[1]
as a learning community in which different group of people are working in
different areas like Research and policy studies (RAPS), Centre of English language
(CEL) etc and these groups are learning within the team they are working as
well as with the other teams as learning organization creating the community of
practice having the shared vision. The relationship of different committees
within AKU-IED, for interchanging their knowledge and experiences, for the
purpose of continuous learning and developing creates the learning community.
Rationale for selecting mode of learning Community for my School
I am
working in a private school in Karachi .
The vision of the school talks about the learning organization. The vision of the school as learning
organization is well articulated in the practices of the stakeholders of the school.
The stakeholders appreciate every truthful initiative of the school administration
but can check those which they think unproductive for the school. The elements
of shared vision, professional development, and regular commitment for
improving practices build my school as learning organization.
However I
think it is the time to move a head by transforming school from learning
organization towards the learning community where every individual in an
organization gets an opportunity to utilize his/her maximum potential to become
the responsible member of the society with values, together with vision and
goals. In this way they will able to play their role to shape a better world
for all. As days have gone when school were thought a learning place only for
the students. Now they demand to serve learning community where respect, care, love
and support for all stake holders are the imperatives.
Moreover
the feeling of love and trust on each other make them realize that they are not
alone in the battle. In learning community level of trust and mutual
understanding bind the members of human networks to make cooperative action
possible. Learning communities also minimize the risks for the survival of the
individuals in the increasingly complex world of technology and these are the
few reasons which lead me to think beyond the organizational boundaries towards
the transformation of my school into a learning community.
Developing an action plan
As I
already discuss the reasons for transforming my school into a learning
community in the above paragraph and for achieving my desire goal of developing
the learning community, I need to develop an action plan. Before going into any
sort of implications, I will introduce the notion of learning community with
the stake holders and also share the importance of learning community with its
long term effects on the development of human society as one family. I set one
broad goal and in order to achieve that goal I formulate five objectives in my
action plan for transforming my school into a learning community.
|
Goal: To create
an environment of trust and care among the stakeholders through collaborative
learning culture
for the development
of a community that will be beneficial for the society as whole.
|
|||||
|
Objectives
|
Strategies
|
For whom
|
Responsible
persons/resources
|
Time
|
Success
criteria
|
|
1.To create
the awareness about team building
|
A. workshops/
seminars
will be conducted
on team building.
B.Different activities
like designing artifacts for school will be designated in
group for promoting collaborative learning environment.
|
School management committee(principal,
head teachers,
administration),
teachers, sudents.
|
Facilitator, Experts
stationeries,
Multimedia.
|
In the beginning
of the academic year and
then revise
quarterly.
|
All stakeholders in school appreciate and realize the
importance of working in a team.
|
|
2. To develop the reflective practices
among the stakeholders.
|
A. By conducting session
on reflective practices.
B.By arranging get
Together where people get an opportunity to socialize and
share their reflections with each other.
|
School management committee(principal,
head teachers,
administration),
Teachers.
|
Facilitator, Experts,
Support staff,
Multimedia.
|
Once in a month
|
Principal,
head teachers
and teachers maintain their reflective
journals and
share it with
each other.
|
|
3. To increase involvement
of parents.
|
A. By inviting parents
to participate in
daily school activities.
B. By forming a parent committee ,which can
facilitate teachers in arranging programs, encourage other
parents to shake hands with teachers for developing holistic
learning environment.
|
parents
|
Facilitator, School management committee
(principal,
head teachers,
administration),
Teacher.
|
Throughout the
Academic year.
|
Parents come front to share
the responsibilities with teachers
for the purpose
of continuous learning.
|
|
4. To
encourage student's leadership.
|
A. Form different committees/clubs like cleanliness,
discipline,
dramatics etc where
Students get an opportunity to flourish their leadership
skills.
B. Involve students
in various community
work so that they can understand their role as a citizen as well as future
leader for the
betterment of the
society.
|
Students
|
Teachers, parents,
Facilitator, social workers.
|
Throughout the
academic
year.
|
Students take ownership for their practices.
|
|
5.All stakeholders
will able to appreciate practices of the learning and
for the learning.
|
A. events will be
arrange to
appreciate
all the stakeholders for their contribution in the process
of continuous learning.
B. a newsletter will be
be issued that
reflects the learning of the
school as a community.
|
All stakeholders (principal,
head teachers,
administration,
teachers, students,
parents,
support staff, community).
|
Facilitator,
Support staff,
student and parent committees,
teachers.
|
At the end
of the academic
year.
|
All stakeholders will continue to learn in a collaborative
environment
with share
values.
|
My role in developing a Learning Community.
The reason for selecting the mode of learning community for
my organization is to build the moral and social values among the stake
holders, and here I see my role for building social norms. I observed during my
services that though the people were sharing knowledge, helping each other for
completing their tasks, but these activities were done as a part of their job
description.
I feel that
the social and moral values of love, trust and care for each other is missing and
this give me the vision to develop my organization into a family, where every
member of the family promotes sharing of knowledge, dialogue, inquiry and risk
taking, and gives constructive feed to back to other members of the family at
all level (Taylor, 2002). I would like to promote the sense of trust and care
for each other in a family and this can only be develop when my organization
will transform into a learning community.
In the
overall process of transformation I see my role as a facilitator as well as a
learner to encourage learning among the stake holders through reflective
practices, by trusting students’ leadership, by involving parents and teachers
for the holistic development of students, and by considering the importance of
every individual’s contribution as a member of learning community.
Conclusion
The concept
of learning community is rooted in the field of sociology. One needs to promote
the collaborative culture of continuous learning through social interactions
for the betterment of human society. Because as discuss earlier that human is
meant to live in community, he keeps on learning day by day with different
people and different situations thus man is already a part of learning
community.
REFERENCES
Rettalick, J., &Datoo, A.K. (2005).Transforming schools
into learning communities: Focus on
Pakistan .
In Rettalick, J. & Farah, I. (Eds.),
Transforming schools in Pakistan
Senge, P. (1990).The
fifth discipline.Sydney: Random House
Wenger, E. (1998).Communities of pracices: Learning, meaning
and
Identity.Cambridge: Cambridge University
Yarnit, M. (2000).Towns, cities and regions in the learning
age: A Survey of learning
Communities. Retrieved Dec 15,
2009, from
No comments:
Post a Comment