This study explores how women teachers in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan practise their leadership within their own established communities of practice and learn to understand gender inequalities and professional development practices in education. Beyond realising existing inequalities, women teachers share their critical hope of addressing those challenges and transforming professional development opportunities to be equitable for all. Through this understanding and critical hope, this paper hopes to influence policies in transforming leadership practices for women teachers in the educational milieu and fulfil the sustainable development goals.

The study backdrop, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a multi-ethnic developing country in South Asia that spotlights a decentralised education system with top-down leadership approaches. Gender disparities exist in teaching, where females predominate, but leadership positions are primarily held by males (Drudy, 2008). This entrenched 'top-down' leadership approach reflects the social hierarchies (Clarke et al., 2020). Moreover, teacher professional development faces insufficient funding, lack of practical resources, and low self-esteem among educators (Khan & Haseeb, 2017). These tensions highlight the underrepresentation of women and invisible educational inequalities within a decentralised, gendered, and socially stratified education system. 

The study draws upon the concepts of ‘communities of practice’ (CoP) as a social theory of learning (Wenger, 1998) and ‘critical hope’ (Freire, 1994). CoP refers to “a social process of negotiating competence” (Farnsworth et al., 2016, p. 5), where individuals share concerns and obstacles, have an affinity for similar topics, and regularly interact to enhance their understanding and abilities. Wenger (1998) identifies three key dimensions that distinguish CoPs from other groups: mutual involvement in a community, joint domain of interests and a shared repertoire of lived resources developed or adopted by the community. These dimensions highlight teachers’ learning experiences in the discoveries about ‘knowing’ and ‘being’ of their self and society through CoP engagement. Teachers, through CoP participation, develop their professional identity and engage in critical self-reflection on teaching and learning (Wenger & Wenger-Trayner, 2015). Despite the growing recognition for CoPs’ potential for teacher professional development (e.g., Borg, 2012, Yıldırım, 2008), little has been discovered about how they work or function (Patton & Parker, 2017). While predicated on social learning, CoPs rarely take into account power dynamics within the contextual structures (Barton & Tusting, 2005). As a result, there is a need to modify the model of CoPs for teacher professional development that considers the power dynamics within and beyond educational practices.

Through the lens of social justice, the idea of critical hope (Freire, 1994) underscores the contextual structures and power relations inside them, and “systematically links the individual with a collective sense of transformation” (Zembylas, 2014, p. 16). Critical hope is more like “what is needed to transform social reality and to imagine possible futures” (Bourn & Tarozzi, 2024, p. 1). Addressing equalities should take into account the connection between individuals, education systems and the broader social structures that shape, maintain and reflect it. The critical hope under the social justice umbrella theme calls on teachers to “identify cracks in dominant social structures and ideologies” (Webb, 2017, p. 555) and create “a different lifeworld” (Zembylas, 2014, p. 13) whether through imaginative or practical means, where their potential to drive change and dismantle inequitable systems through CoP participation remains steadfast. Consequently, this concept will be mapped into the model to understand power relations and inequalities within and beyond CoP context. This proposed conceptual framework helps address the research questions: 

• How are CoPs in schools in Pakistan established?

• How can women teachers perceive and address invisible challenges in Pakistani education through CoPs?

Data collection commenced once ethical approval had been secured, and all necessary consents from the CoP leaders and members had been obtained. In this stage, data were primarily gathered through approximately 40-to-60-minute interviews with the participating educators. Two schools were identified for the purposes of this research, where four Communities of Practice had been established. The CoP leaders (anonymised as Leader 1, Leader 2, Leader 3, and Leader 4) underwent semi-structured interviews. Individual interviews were then conducted with the members of each of their CoPs. A total number of 21 teachers acted as research participants. These interviews centred on exploring the establishment of their respective CoPs and delving into the educational challenges that female teachers would like to address within their own CoPs. Thematic analysis was applied to analyse the comprehensive research project. The research team followed the well-defined procedures associated with thematic analysis within the realm of qualitative research (Braun & Clarke, 2006) to code the interview transcripts. Predicated on these inaugural codes, the team collaboratively identified themes that were considered integral to addressing the research questions related to the professional development of female teachers in the Global South. For the purposes of this specific paper, we commenced our analysis by focusing on the participation of women teachers in CoPs. This initial step aimed to explore how their engagement in CoPs contributed to practising their leadership and transforming the educational environment of Pakistan. A theme that emerged was the realisation of the ‘invisible barriers’ to equity in gender and professional development opportunities that women teachers experience in their professional lives. This served as a launching pad for the research team to further investigate how these inequalities drive the CoP engagement, and how the participants address obstacles to promote greater equity. Consequently, the research yielded themes related to educational challenges in schools in Pakistan, all of which were situated within the broader context of inequalities prevalent in the Global South.

This paper argues that CoP participation offers profound insights into the challenges for women teachers’ professional development and school effectiveness, along with their critical hope as an action-oriented response to these tensions. Predicated on the concept of CoPs as social theory of learning (Wenger, 1998) and the idea of critical hope (Freire, 1994), the study acknowledges the influence of social structures on teachers’ beliefs and leadership practices and the potential of teachers’ leadership transformation in achieving visible equalities within Pakistani education. Noteworthy among the findings is the voluntary engagement of teachers in CoPs, which emanates from their strong ethical and professional commitment, and their desire for continuous learning to provide high-quality education to their students. Despite their teaching dedication, efforts in their professional development and school effectiveness, certain hierarchical and gender-related inequalities continue to influence their leadership practices. Particularly, the complexities around gender inequalities and women teachers’ dual responsibilities in their professional and personal lives affect their continuity and discontinuity within CoPs. Regardless of their ultimate decision to stay or withdraw, CoP participants harbour a critical hope of addressing invisible challenges and creating educational equity. Hope propels individuals toward action and is nurtured within communities (Stitzlein, 2018). According to Freire (1994), critical hope is likened as “the way a fish needs unpolluted water” (p.2). This metaphor reflects the imperative of a more inclusive learning environment within the Pakistani education setting. Hope coupled with action through CoPs would transform the invisible inequalities into visible equalities within Pakistani education, much like a fish thrives when freely swimming in unpolluted water. This study has the potential to contribute to the broader context of critical hope by facilitating specific policies catering to educational equity in the Global South and advancing the fulfilment of sustainable development goals.

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