Parents, Teachers and the "Community of Practice"

Abstract

Raffo and Gunter (20087) argue that there is insufficient research which has "systematically examined, categorised and synthesised the types of leadership in schools that might assist social inclusion" (p. 397). In this paper I argue that Wenger's concept of a "community of practice", when applied to the parent-teacher relationship, provides a framework for future qualitative research agendas which explore "how social inclusion/exclusion can be defined in terms of access, recognition and meaningful participation issues ('equity')" (Raffo and Gunter, p.397).