Developing and sustaining a community of inquiry among teachers and teacher-educators

This article defines and examines a "community of inquiry" in a context of teachers' professional development. A five-year project involving teachers and university educators who meet regularly to discuss teaching and learning (the Learning Strategies Group) is documented and analyzed. This extended time frame allows for an examination of the changes that have occurred in both substantive features of the deliberations in the group and the dynamic features that characterized the nature of the communication between the participants. Sharing of knowledge, support in knowledge construction, development of collective expertise, engagement in progressive discourse and recognition among peers are the features of the community of inquiry discussed in the article.