Background:
Communities of practice (CoP) consist of a group of people who are united by a common interest in a certain area. Members of a CoP come together to share and reflect on what they do and by interacting with each other they learn how to improve their practice. CoPs are a form of transformative professional development and have the potential to connect Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (SENCOs) together so that they can learn collaboratively and enhance their strategic leadership capacity.

Research Aim:
This research aimed to assess the extent that SENCOs in Irish primary schools engage with CoP and the value and benefits that they acquire from such engagement for their professional development.

Methods and Data Sources:
A two-phase mixed methods sequential explanatory research design (quan + QUAL) was adopted for the study and the findings related to CoP experience are reported here. Phase one involved a questionnaire which was developed in line with relevant research and gathered information related to the SENCOs’ experience, role, and qualifications. Following piloting of the questionnaire, all primary school SENCOs in Ireland (n = 3,104) were invited to participate and 371 questionnaires were completed. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse these data. Phase two involved semi-structured interviews with SENCOs (n=3), SENCO Principals (n=3) and Principals (n=3) and explored the experiences of SENCOs in Irish primary schools. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse these data.

Key Findings:
Findings reported that 65.2% of SENCOs indicated that CoP would be one of their preferred types of professional learning. Having said this, only 38.5% of SENCOs were part of such a CoP. Of the 143 SENCOs (38.5%) who were part of a SENCO related CoP, 24.5% indicated that the format used for these meetings was face-to-face while 37.8% said an online format was employed. The remaining 37.8% of the 143 SENCOs reported that a blended approach was used for their CoP meetings. In phase two, five out of six SENCOs interviewed indicated that they were members of a CoP and the analysis revealed that SENCOs learn from being engaged in a CoP. The CoP allowed SENCOs the opportunity to connect with other SENCOs to learn from each other, support each other and discuss and reflect on best practices. One SENCO commented ‘with the SENCO CoP, it’s brilliant to have other people in the same role that you can bounce ideas off or ask questions. I find the group invaluable’.

Conclusions:
It could be concluded that the growth of and development of CoP within and between schools was the preferred type of teacher professional learning. The CoP can develop SENCOs’ competence in being effective strategic leaders as they have the potential to bring SENCOs together in a collaborative setting to learn from each other. It has been recommended that CoP should become central in whole-school practice in Ireland and therefore supports and procedures need to be established at policy level to foster their growth and development.

Keywords: Professional development, communities of practice, SENCO, inclusive education, leadership.