A community of change

I work at a high decile High School in Canterbury. The earthquakes of the last 6 years have shaken up more than the ground around us, it has thrown up opportunities for change and a culture where the community is demanding more say in many areas, including education.
Mark Elliot (30/3/12) encourages teaching practitioners to 'look deeper in your own backyard" and the connections we make with others help us to do just that. Communities of Practice work on various levels to help us 'Learn/Unlearn and Relearn' from each other.

Syndicate
My Community of Practice is a syndicate of three Intermediate teachers working alongside high school teachers across all curriculum areas. We are increasingly forging bonds of trust and honesty which is allowing us to move forward and rethink how we are delivering learning to our students. Our planning reflects our passions and strengths, which improves our personal motivation, and we are beginning to devise learning projects to enhance our students learning experiences.

School
Our senior leadership encourage us to visit other schools, and to embrace Professional Development opportunities. Timetabling this year demonstrates a shift towards more 'social learning' (Wenger, 2000 p238), and my colleagues and I are encouraged to develop our own Professional Learning Groups in areas of personal interest. It is important for formal organisations, such as schools, to create opportunities for brainstorming and conversations to occur. The organisation should find strength from the freedom they grant us to "look deeper in our own backyard" (Elliot, 2012).
My school is also a member of a Community of Learning Group with 12 other schools of similar ethic backgrounds. This is a fairly new setup, with personnel being appointed to posts. I applaud the intention but personally I am unsure about how the COL will effectively communicate with everyone involved as it currently appears to be a rather large, cumbersome beast.

The wider community
The parents of our akonga are largely engaged, and Manaakitanga (Hospitality) is one of our three school values. We are encouraged to foster relationships with Maori and Pasifika families through regular, informal community hui and talanoa. Sports activities play a large role in my school and many relationships are fostered on the sports field/pool/court with students and their families.
Our school has a long-standing history and plays a valuable role in the local community. We often feature in the media, and local businesses often contribute to events during our school calendar. Their involvement in our school is important in moving forward, at a time when many schools in the area are undergoing fundamental restructuring after the earthquakes of  recent times.

REFERENCES:

Life in a Learning Community - Learning, Unlearning and Relearning: Mark Elliott at TEDxFortMcMurray 30/3/12 recovered from 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXnqJ3dfyKo (19/2/17)

Wenger, E. (2000) 'Communities of practice and social learning systems' Organisation 7(2) pp225 - 246