Our work in three of these teacher communities suggests a number of important themes we want to draw out. Firstly, offering these sorts of opportunities creates a climate for change. In one of our published research papers we talked about the 'context of discovery' around which discourse, collaboration and knowledge sharing can be constructed.
Secondly, each of these environments, and there are many more examples we could have selected, show the characteristics and benefits of distributed expertise. No individuals reign here! This is real learning, in the co-operative modes that the communication draws from the teachers and in the way the programme teams work.
Developing new, open and flexible forms of teacher education involves drawing on a range of skills and expertise. The development of a series of e-books for the South Africa project, for instance, involved experts from four different countries working collaboratively together. We need more work on how best to exploit - and be explicit about- such distributed expertise, especially in professional development programmes.
Thirdly, new forms of communication now offer the possibility of developing professional networks of a totally new kind. The exchange between teachers in Paraguay, South Africa and Northern Ireland represent a wholly new form of discourse. Teachers can exchange ideas, resources, debate problems, arrange collaborative projects such as that in Bushmills school, or simply use e-mail to contact a local adviser for personal assistance. There is a growing literature about how to set up and manage such exchanges and it seems inevitable that this will come into the mainstream of teacher learning within the next few years.
Finally, we have already referred to the sense of value and purpose that these wider professional networks bring. The impact on self-esteem and identity, teachers knowing they have a place in the status structures of their professional milieu is tangible in the projects we have looked at.
'This is part of the process of developing our institution. It helps me in my role. I've experimented. It's opened up new avenues', said one school principal.
'I have grown up as a teacher', said one teacher participant.
The opportunity to work in this way is not an option. It's an entitlement for all our teachers.
