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Middle leaders are educators whose practices of building relational trust are critical for generating the kind of strong and sustainable professional learning communities necessary for leading productive site-based education development in their school. This chapter specifically focuses how building an ethic of relational trust, experienced in five interrelated dimensions, aligns with establishing core foundational conditions for building community. Building trust and communities of professional learners are not mutually exclusive – in fact, each reciprocally facilitates, progresses, supports, and sustains the development of the other. The foundations for community building, described as cornerstones, form over time and progressively involve, and achieve, contextuality, commitment, communication, collaboration, criticality, and collegiality. Reflection questions are provided throughout; these are designed to directly focus the attention of middle leaders towards understanding and developing their own trust practices, that with time, create conditions for generating strong viable communities of professional practice.

The aim of this article is to empirically investigate the effect of co-worker support on communities of practice with a sequential mediating effect of concern for team members and preference for teamwork.

The data of 216 were gathered from respondents employed as full-time personnel in public and private sector organizations in India using a survey questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis, structured equation modelling and regression analysis were applied to test the formulated hypothesis. Hayes PROCESS macro model was also used to estimate the indirect effects with bootstrap resamples.

The study's findings revealed the mediating effect of concern for team members and preference for teamwork on the relationship between co-worker support and communities of practice in a sequential manner. The total and direct consequence of co-worker support on communities of practice was also substantial.

This article offers an understanding of the process through which co-worker support is related to communities of practice. This study is the first of its type, basically in the Indian context to the best of the authors’ knowledge.

This paper aims to understand the impact of the job switching behavior on different stages of the communities of practice’s life cycle. Job switching has been viewed from both positive and negative point of views, and its impact on certain organizational factors might be found in literature. Job switching/job hopping behavior of an individual might be fueled by socio-economic factors as well as fun, but it has serious implication for the companies. But an understanding of how this new employee might influence the communities of practice, given which stage is the community in, is something that has not been studied yet. This work is an attempt in that direction.

Using integrative review technique, this paper forwards a conceptual framework based on the literature reviewed and builds a model using an understanding of the nuances of each stage of the life cycle of communities of practice.

The model proposes the impact of switching on each stage of the life cycle of communities of practice. It is observed that at each stage a new entrant who is a “job hopper” might either help or hinder the progress of a community of practice.

This paper gives a new impetus to the research on communities of practice in contemporary perspective. The model proposed could be tested using data from real communities of practice. This paper limits itself to the proposal of the model and does not engage in testing it.

Organizations and managers may use the model to understand how a new entrant to the organization will complement the existing life cycle phase of the communities of practice within.

The conceptual model proposed is unique in its context of job switching behavior and its effect on communities of practice. Research on communities of practice from this contemporary perspective might bring important research directions in future.

A boarding school research center annually invites students, professors, and others to collaborate with faculty members, forming interconnected communities of practice. The authors interviewed visitors to determine how their experience contributed to their identity as a scholar and the extent to which they felt part of a community of practice. Categorizing emergent themes according to Wenger's (1998) categories of communities of practice, we identified six subthemes that characterize their experience. All participants valued their stay and expressed a desire to remain connected to the school, visiting scholars, and other people they met and now consider part of their network.

Building on the concepts of learning communities of practice, the paper aims to evaluate their application within degree apprenticeships (DAs) to support pedagogic engagement and inclusive education within a university setting.

A case study of an existing B2B sales degree apprenticeship reviewed relevant programme documents and evaluated apprentice learner experience through an anonymised online survey.

The study found that sales apprentices had a reflexive awareness of how learning communities operated within this context and raised some valuable insights about their perceptions of inclusive education. These communities have differing dynamics that value engaging with workplace professionals, peers and university. Apprentices prefer tuition that accommodates their shared interests as employee learners within an occupational role. Issues surrounding inclusive education are seen as integral to the experience of being an apprentice.

Post-Covid engagement could be used to frame more effective social learning for work-integrated practice and programme teams could advocate for a greater integration of DAs within institutional settings.

This research indicates that B2B sales degree apprentices see themselves as operating within distinctive learning communities of practice that support their work-integrated (WIL) studies in higher education. The paper recommends programme teams provide more collaborative engagement within learning communities to support inclusive education goals.

The study aims to understand the meaning of event-based and place-based community practices, as well as the resulting social impacts.

An ethnomethodological approach was followed (participant observation and interviews were supplemented by secondary data), with the analysis being exploratory and interpretative.

The festival and the place reinforce the community’s social practices, which have impacts beyond the festival, benefiting individuals, the community and the place, becoming a means for valorisation and diffusion of the rural way of life, and placemaking.

In this study the authors focus on social practices in the context of an event and of a place (the village where the event occurs). The authors connect to theories of practice, which they apply in the analysis. The value of the study lies on the underlying mechanisms (how communities exercise social practices in the context of festivals, and what social impacts may lead to) rather than its context-dependent specific results.

National and regional authorities can play a role in providing local communities with adequate tools to overcome the challenges they encounter. This can be done by issuing appropriate (events) plans and policies while giving room for the locals to voice their opinions.

Community-based festivals are key social practices that can strategically impact placemaking, strengthening community bonding, forging connections with outsiders and promoting well-being practices that discourage rural depopulation.

There is a scarcity of research that deepens the understanding of the role of festivals in placemaking and their social impacts, particularly in the rural context. This study contributes to closing this gap by focussing on the social practices of a community-based festival in a village in the interior of Portugal.

This research investigates the presence of communitarian philosophy within contemporary Scottish public library strategy, exploring links between philosophy, politics and practice.

The paper follows a qualitative research approach, combining content analysis and discourse analysis methodologies for the analysis of a corpus of Scottish public library trust documentation according to a thematic framework of communitarian values.

The analysis revealed strong links between trust strategy and communitarian values but also highlighted contradictions within this form of communitarianism which belied a deeper neoliberal philosophical foundation. The research therefore identified a communitarian strategic service shift which introduced benefits of social inclusion, community autonomy and common good but also brought concerns of an inherently weakened communal foundation and the survival of a neoliberal status quo.

The analysis is focused on strategy in Scotland only and thus can only claim to be representative of that country. However, the growth in communitarian strategies in the public sector is informed from the analysis undertaken.

The paper provides a novel analysis of public library strategy and thus contributes to the understanding of public library practice in the modern era.

The impacts of communitarian philosophy in the public sphere are under-researched and how these changes impact the mission of libraries needs to be better understood.

This is the first analysis to consider public library strategy from a communitarian point of view. As such, it provides novel insights into a growing area of public service development.

There is a growing call both globally and nationally for integrated multisectoral and multidisciplinary systems of care to be implemented for children's needs in the foundation stages of their growth to be met. Extant literature shows that historical, structural, epidemiological, political and social factors create many adversities for South African children both in the short and in the long term. South Africa's fragmented and weak service delivery compounds the situation. In this paper, the authors describe the lessons learnt from a multisectoral and multidisciplinary community of practice established to strengthen social systems to ensure child wellbeing outcomes.

A qualitative research design was used, drawing on data collected over a two-year period. Data included meeting minutes, focus group discussions, and email communications between project partners. Focus group discussions were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data was analysed thematically.

Findings show that having a shared goal, establishing supportive, mutually beneficial relationships and contributing to services that enhance child wellbeing outcomes enabled the community of practice, while differing organizational mandates and heavy workloads constrained the partnership.

The study shows the effectiveness of a Community of Practice (CoP) in integrating services across sectors for children's well-being and promoting collaborative learning and intersectoral work. However, this success also depends on the presence of strong leadership and efficient coordination.Limitation: Despite its benefits, the CoP model presents challenges, including securing active participation and buy-in from stakeholders, managing time and resource constraints, and dealing with issues in the existing service delivery system. Questions about long-term sustainability and the practicalities of scaling and institutionalizing the model need to be addressed.

Through this paper, the authors contribute to a nascent area of research in the Global South, critically reflecting on the lessons the authors learnt from implementing an integrated community of practice approach to strengthen social sector systems toward the enhancement of children's wellbeing.

This chapter explores the significance and implementation of family planning practices, emphasizing their vital role in enhancing reproductive health outcomes. This chapter conducts an in-depth examination of family planning practices within marginalized communities in Bangladesh, shedding light on the unique challenges and opportunities faced by these populations. By uncovering the nuances of family planning practices in marginalized contexts, this chapter underscores the need for tailored and culturally sensitive family planning programs. It advocates for program designs that facilitate the effective adoption of family planning practices among marginalized communities, ultimately promoting better reproductive health outcomes. Furthermore, this chapter highlights the importance of empowerment strategies in reaching and engaging marginalized communities. Through practice enhancement initiatives, it seeks to empower marginalized populations with the knowledge and resources necessary to make informed decisions about family planning, thereby contributing to improved reproductive health and overall well-being.