Community of Practice

A community of practice is a group of colleagues, professionals, associates, friends or family members. All such communities have formal and informal practices that make up the norms, expectations, skills, and knowledge that are valued in that particular community. Each school is a community of practice, often embedded in or incorporating multiple other communities of practice.

A community of practice is distinct from other groups because the community has:

• Mutual Engagement: Firstly, through participation in the community, members establish norms and build collaborative relationships; this is termed mutual engagement. These relationships are the ties that bind the members of the community together as a social entity.
• Joint Enterprise: Secondly, through their interactions, they create a shared understanding of what binds them together; this is termed the joint enterprise. The joint enterprise is (re)negotiated by its members and is sometimes referred to as the 'domain' of the community.
• Shared Repertoire: Finally, as part of its practice, the community produces a set of communal resources, which is termed their shared repertoire; this is used in the pursuit of their joint enterprise and can include both literal and symbolic meanings.