Community of Practice

This section will examine how the job placements may or may not have resembled a community of practice. The following questions can be used as a guide to determine whether or not any of the placements had the elements of a community of practice. Was the focus on teaching the activity or learning? If learning was predominant, what was its purpose? Did students see and understand the whole? Did activities permit improvised practice or were they simply a set of skills and tasks that were unrelated to the actual practices of the job placements?

The childcare

Nadine, Martha, and Rouda had placements in the childcare, Nadine's placement arrangement was standard; both Rouda and Martha had more unique placement agreements. Martha wanted to work with children, but she most likely would always need to be supervised. The goal of her placement in the childcare was to help her gain experience, and not to find a job as much as perhaps to find a position as a volunteer. She continued to participate in the employment preparation program each morning and went to her modified placement two afternoons a week. Rouda's case was completely different. Her placement was almost independent of the program, and she followed the path that all potential childcare assistants took to be hired: she volunteered at various childcare sites, was on the supply list, and was beginning to supply teach in the hopes that a position would become available. She worked at childcare sites four full days a week and maintained contact with the program only one day a week. This arrangement was made in order to maintain Rouda's student status so she could receive support and assistance from the program.

While in the childcare, students were engaged in a variety of activities essential to the job of childcare assistant. They led reading circles; helped the children eat, wash and dress; sang songs with the children; supervised their play time; changed diapers; comforted children who were upset; prepared the children for fire drills; and even participated in a professional development day for the childcare staff. Depending on the site and supervisor at each site, the students' level of engagement with the children, staff, and activities varied. At one site, Nadine was rarely permitted to act independently and was not given challenging tasks. She said she felt useless and incapable as a result. She transferred to another site where the supervisor asked her to "shadow" her and became fully engaged in all of the day–to–day activities.