ARACY has been involved in several initiatives establishing Communities of Practice (CoP). The evidence of CoPs is growing with CoP participants demonstrating greater use of practice tools, better content knowledge and reporting more satisfaction with implementation supports than ‘practice as usual’ participant. The promising evidence base of CoPs is accompanied by the understanding that CoPs employ various operation models and can be difficult to evaluate.
Research suggests that learning is the main reason Communities of Practices are established.
Social learning and thinking together are key concepts in a CoP. The collaborative learning process of ‘thinking together’ is one of the most meaningful elements of a CoP and what makes it work. Thinking together is conceptualised as people sharing knowledge through mutually guiding each other through their understandings of the same problems in their area of shared interest.
