Building Communities of Practice

New Ambition is at that phase where delivery of projects is running and our CPD programme is in full swing. We have been exploring to what extent a community of practice is evolving across the programme. 

What does the term community of practice mean to everyone involved? Are we sure we all have a common understanding?

I was reminded of the discussions at the Musical Inclusion National Gatherings and Anita Holford’s description on the YM Network and the diagram she included. I hope she doesn’t mind me showing it again.

“Communities of practice are groups of people who share a passion for something that they know how to do and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better.” 

(Click on the image to see full version)

I would suggest that calling groups of practitioners who are working on a project or programme does not automatically make them into a community of practice and when we are considering where we have got in New Ambition this will be useful to refer back to. I am a great supporter of peer support, practice sharing and learning together and we are keen to nurture this process. 

We have plenty of opportunities where we can gather feedback from everyone involved on the programme and in response to that develop our supporting role with a view to the community of practice becoming an independent entity. 

We will share developments and I would value other people's experiences in this aspect of workforce development.