Power, knowledge and positioning in teacher networks

Abstract

In this Viewpoint, we aim to raise questions about the positioning of teachers and teacher knowledge in professional development networks. We contend that diverse purposes across professional development configurations labeled ‘networks’ have been glossed over in the literature, obscuring important questions about teacher learning and its role in educational change. For example, are teachers viewed as change agents or objects of the change agendas of others? Whose purposes guide the work of the network? Is teacher knowledge viewed as something to be shared or something to be remediated? What role can networks positioned outside schools, districts and state reform plans have in improving education? We argue that, without taking a critical look at how networks and network research position teachers and their knowledge, the promise of networks is misunderstood and ultimately diluted.