Building communities of learning

Abstract

The teaching job requires revising perspectives and challenges, raising questions and facing dilemmas that are often solved in solitude. The pedagogical and institutional organization of the secondary school inhibits a more collective approach to problems experienced at the classroom. In this context appeared "Communities of Learning", a project that invites schools to build interdisciplinary teaching proposals through collaborative and solidary work among teachers. The project was adopted by the Unión de Educadores de la Província de Córdoba, a teachers union, that ran a pilot experience in 2016. Teachers were selected for the role of coordinators of these communities; those teachers went through an intensive training program. This article presents an analysis of the process of training the coordinators and the strategies we have built with them to develop these communities in the specific contexts of the schools. Articulation with the school principal, thinking about teaching beyond the workshop, developing a conjunctural script, listening to teachers, working with feelings and reaching agreements with the partners coordinators were some of the main strategies implemented.