Part 5 - Collective Power – The Unity in Community

This follows on from: (4) Part 4: Shared Resources – Structures That Strengthen Community and Collaboration | LinkedIn

This final part of the reflection is about collective power—what we achieve not as individuals, but as a unified subject community.

At the end of the Geography Communities' first session during last week's INSET day, I used this quote from Phil Jackson—a final reflection for the Geography Subject Community on what we’re building together:

“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.”

We often talk about individual teacher development, and rightly so but we mustn't underestimate the power of teachers working in purposeful, professional community.

When we work together, we unlock something greater than any of us could achieve alone. That’s the heart of collective power—or as Aristotle put it:

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

The belief that teachers working together in professional communities can achieve more than they could alone isn’t just a feel-good sentiment it is backed up by educational research.

• Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan emphasise the importance of building professional capital—not just improving individuals, but creating the conditions where teams grow stronger together through collaboration, trust, and shared purpose. Reference:Hargreaves, A., & Fullan, M. (2012). Professional Capital: Transforming Teaching in Every School. Routledge.

• John Hattie’s work places collective teacher efficacy—teachers’ belief in their shared ability to make a difference—at the top of the list of what works in education. Reference: Hattie, J. (2015). Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement. Routledge.

• And Etienne Wenger reminds us that real professional learning happens in communities of practice, through sustained engagement in shared work—not just on training days. Reference: Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge University Press.

Underpinning all of this and our work across all our subject communities at Astrea Academy Trust is the following principle —first shared in Part 1:

“Curriculum development must rest on teacher development.” – Lawrence Stenhouse (1975)

That idea runs through everything we do. It’s why we’ve invested in collaboration, shared structures, and curriculum design that isn’t handed down, but built up—together. It's exactly what we’ve been building in our Geography Subject Community: a space where people are connected by shared identity, focused by shared purpose. A community where curriculum is co-constructed and professional learning is continuous.

It’s not just a network. It’s not just a curriculum. It’s a collective.

And in that collective, there’s real power—not just in what we do together, but in what that togetherness makes possible.

That’s the unity in community.

The initial post in this series: Subject Communities: A Shared Space for Professional Growth and Curriculum Coherence | LinkedIn

#CollectivePower #SubjectCommunities #CurriculumLeadership #TeacherDevelopment #ProfessionalCapital #CommunitiesOfPractice #CurriculumInPractice #AstreaAcademyTrust #GeographyEducation #MATLeadership#StenhouseInPractice #DisruptingDisadvantage #CurriculumMatters #TogetherWeAchieveMore