The year was challenging. The most difficult part of the year was the socialenvironment of the school. The relationship between teachers and children wastoo often mediated through corporal punishment. With no cleaning staff, forexample, children spent an inordinate amount of time cleaning, often under thethreat of corporal punishment. Teachers largely avoided their classrooms. Theyoften came late and left early. The Grade 3 class was often the only one still insession after lunch. Breaks took longer than scheduled. Teachers spent longperiods of times sitting in their cars with each other. There were tight cliques, andtensions between these cliques. The day to day talk between teachers was rarelyabout teaching. Some teachers were supportive of the work, others watchedsuspiciously. It became increasingly clear that the challenge of supportingteachers to shift their practice was not limited to expanding teaching practice at anindividual level; without building alternative communities of practice, supportive ofchange and inspired by the challenge of teaching itself, teachers were unlikely toachieve or sustain new patterns of practice over tim