Abstract
With the introduction of a new school curriculum in South Africa in 1998,
Technology as a school subject was introduced for the first time. Implementation by the
National Department of Education took place over a very short time frame allowing very little
time for adequate training of technology teachers by the provincial departments of education.
Teachers were expected to implement technology in schools without being adequately trained.
They needed to develop their professional knowledge which comprises school knowledge,
subject knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. This could mainly be done through continuing
professional teacher development (CPTD). To address the lack of CPTD opportunities and to
develop these teachers’ professional knowledge, the Unit for Technology Education at a
university in South Africa established a Community of Practice (CoP) as a strategy to develop
teachers’ professional knowledge in Civil Technology. However, after a number of CoP
workshops, and although these CoPs have been designed to serve as a tool for CPTD, we do
not know to what extent it succeeds in developing teachers’ professional knowledge. The
purpose of this article is to determine to what extent the CoP succeeded in developing teachers’
professional knowledge...