Collaborative groups as professional development

This study explores the ways in which participating in a discussion group of 10 experienced teachers (K-12) and teacher educators helped group members sustain their progressive beliefs about education. The support and collegiality of the group demonstrates how such relationships can enable continuous professional growth. Group members came together in response to Carole Edelsky's challenge to educators to find “communities of colleagues who want to study and support each other and change together”. McCotter, a member of the group herself, studied the group during the 1997–1998 academic year, taping and transcribing monthly meetings, as well as interviewing each member twice. Approaching analysis using feminist and critical principles to construct relevant themes, the study had two important foci. Not only was the specific content of the group's conversation important for growth, but the ways in which members talked with each other helped construct a “sacred space” in which growth was nurtured and promoted.