An Examination of Communities of Practice in a Disadvantaged Context in South Africa: The Shared Experiences From Early Childhood Practitioners

Abstract

As early childhood rises on state agendas in low and middle-income countries, the concern for building a quality workforce continues to be a challenge due to many epistemic injustices. South Africa is in the process of professionalising its early years. It is thus timely and critical to examine issues of practitioner knowledge and context-responsiveness. This article thus used the notions of Funds of Knowledge and Community of Practice as an asset-based lens. The conceptual framework was used to understand how practitioners operate as a Community of Practice to inform their work in early childhood centres in a vulnerable context with three- and four-year-olds. A qualitative case study using semi-structured interviews with eight under-qualified practitioners informed the study. The findings suggested that practitioners use informal and personal sources of knowledge while working as Communities of Practice to navigate sustainable outcomes for young children. These illustrative sources function both as enablers and disablers for shaping inclusive and quality practices. Practitioners are able to use their knowledge to be responsive, but they also have unexamined assumptions which are in need of disruption. The article concluded with a call for a more bottom-up model of professionalism that speaks to context-responsiveness, intentionality development and fostering of an ethic of care. Keywords: Funds of Knowledge, Sustainability, Early Childhood Practitioners, South Africa, Disadvantaged Context, Professional Development