Challenges Encountered by Communities of Practice in Enhancing Continuing Professional Teachers Development in High Schools

ABSTRACT This paper investigates challenges encountered by communities of practice in enhancing continuing professional teachers’ development in selected high schools in the Fort Beaufort Education District, South Africa. The study adopted the mixed methods research approach that concurrently integrated procedures in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data. It employed structured and unstructured questionnaires as well as face-to-face interviews as data collection instruments. Teachers not having sufficient time to meet due to various workloads and unavailability of permanent space for meeting venue were the major challenges encountered by formal and informal communities of practice. The study concluded that teachers did not have sufficient time to engage in collaborative learning activities. The study recommends that teachers spend adequate time for collaborative learning activities in communities of practice and informal communities of practice activities in high schools should be supported with financial and educational resources by the Department of Education.