At the heart of this study is the concept of “community of practice” (CoP) and an interrogation of its usefulness as a theoretical idea that can illuminate the experience of student teachers studying on a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) for teachers of Adult Literacy in England. Coined by Lave and Wenger (1991), the term has been widely used to describe the process whereby student teachers gain entry into a professional identity via “situated learning”. The idea is attractive suggesting as it does that there is a strongly communicative dimension to learning how to teach and that an apprenticeship-type relationship - in which culture and values are shared - is possible. The study explores the different boundaries and qualities of the CoPs encountered by a group of pre-service student teachers beginning with a review of some broad applications of the CoP concept from the literature as applied to teacher education for teachers in Further Education (FE) colleges in England. It explores how the forces of quasi-marketisation (Smith 2007) and managerialism (Randle and Brady 1997) within the education sector militate against such an over-generalised application and critiques the viability of any approach that sees FE teachers as a unified CoP across subject specialisms and different college settings.

The study draws on a qualitative data set from a Tutor Group of pre-service Literacy teachers to illuminate their thinking about the usefulness of the CoP concept in the light of their experiences on teaching placement. The data set originates from reflective journal entries written by these students on individual electronic webfolios. The study made use of a methodological approach that sought to integrate theory and practice insofar as Tutor Group members became active participants in the study. They were invited as emergent reflective practitioners (Brookfield 1995, Bolton 2005) to comment and reflect on the journal entries and to take part in both analysis of the data and the writing up of the paper. To that extent, the boundaries between tutor and student were blurred as the study was viewed as knowledge production originating from a democratic Freirean ‘culture circle’ (Freire 1970).

The study uses this ethnographic (Street 2004) methodological approach to suggest an alternative model of a CoP. A central perspective that emerged was that the Literacy Tutor Group itself constituted a meaningful CoP in which understandings were shared about what it means to be a Literacy teacher in FE colleges. An important and integral aspect of this originated in the supportive culture that was established within the Literacy Tutor Group - a culture that was fostered by the use of webfolios. The impact of the webfolio medium on the nature and form of the data is also considered as it contributed to the shared ‘literacy’ of becoming a teacher. Finally, a radical and cohesive feature that helped to sustain this localised CoP was acknowledged: that it defined itself against many of the cultural norms that were perceived to have taken root in the current culture of FE colleges in England.