Teacher learning for transformation: a framework

Abstract

ABSTRACT Teachers working to transform classrooms towards equity and justice must resist the continual press of dominant culture, which seeks to reproduce longstanding arrangements of inequity and injustice. Little is known about the learning that supports teachers in this resistance. This article offers the Teacher Learning for Transformation (TLT) framework, which is built from two theoretical pillars: Wenger’s articulation of four aspects of learning in Communities of Practice: meaning, practice, identity, and community; and Holland et al.’s notion of Figured Worlds. The resulting conceptualisation of TLT is a holistic view of multiple aspects of teachers’ learning, which are embedded in and mediated by socio-historical and socio-cultural contexts. I offer an illustrative example of an articulation of the framework to support research on teacher learning towards transformation in a particular context. I comment on ways in which the framework might support further research and design of professional development which aims to support transformative learning towards greater justice in classrooms.