A design research study on fostering communities of learners for students in pre-vocational secondary education

In this chapter, the use of communities of learners in prevocational secondary education is investigated via design research. We aimed to translate theoretical notions about communities of learners into educational practice during two years of joint design by teachers and researchers, a process supported by one of the school’s leader. We expected communities of learners to enhance students’ quality of and engagement in learning. In this chapter, we provide a detailed review of the first year of our study at one of the schools, where we developed and evaluated two curriculum units. We focus on how the teachers collaborated with the school leader and the researchers to develop curriculum units that would foster communities of learners and how (developing and implementing) the curriculum units affected student learning. Data were collected through observations of all the meetings of the development team, all the lessons of the implemented units, and interviews with teachers and students. The results show that the teachers’ focus was mainly on designing engaging activities for their students. The community of learners concept did not seem to become meaningful for them, and little reflection on the concept’s relationship to the school’s vision regarding teaching and learning occurred. The second curriculum unit succeeded better at promoting student learning in the intended way; the units became part of the regular curriculum, and similar units were developed later.