Vuxnas lärande i praktiken : En studie av rektorers praktikgemenskaper och hur de påverkar lärande

• Main Author: Pontén, Johan
• Format: Others
• Language: Swedish
• Published: Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för pedagogik, didaktik och utbildningsstudier 2017
• Subjects: Pedagogic leadership; Communities of practice; Adult learning; School director; Identity construction; Professional identity; Reification; Pedagogy; Pedagogik
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-324277

This thesis investigates the importance of the work community and its social organisation and the role it has for the participants' ability to learn and to form a professional identity as pedagogical leaders. Furthermore, the thesis wants to investigate if it matters to the directors’ learning how the principal (municipality or private company) organises for learning. The empirical material for the study comes mainly from semi-structured interviews with participants in the directors’ programme and close colleagues. An expression for the working community in a workplace is a community of practice. Learning and social interaction are about negotiation of meaning, making sense in everyday life. All four interviewed participants have contexts with features of communities of practice. In a few cases, it is clear that the context is about educational leadership, in a practice that is designed in collaboration with colleagues. Although there are significant differences in both the scope and the structure of supporting structures between the two investigated private contexts, it becomes clear that their structure leads to learning. The lack of structure in municipal schools leaves their directors with little access to guidance for their learning and identity development.