Self-initiated online communities of teachers as an expanded meso space

The pandemic-related educational emergency created the need to re-organise teaching and learning processes, as well as teacher professional development (TPD) opportunities. The forced nature of the transition to remote teaching during the pandemic somewhat shifted the micro or macro-level factors in the re-organisation of teaching and learning, consequently, the new opportunities contributed to a reconceptualisation of a space needed for TPD. This research is contextualised in a larger digital ethnographic and survey study of three different Italian teacher online communities. It reports on the results of the study and aims to further uncover relationships in re-organisation patterns while examining the role of professional online communities for TPD, reconceptualising them as Meso-level re-organising practices. The results of the current study indicate that among different macro and meso level supports, online communities and colleagues have contributed to re-organising processes, indicating the expansion of the meso level. This research has practical implications for TPD demonstrating how the relaxation of certain established frames of operation can mediate further opportunities to innovate. The findings can inform theory, policy, practice and further research to support the expansion of the meso space through the ‘dialogue’ between different organisational layers, creating re-organising opportunities for educational innovation and TPD.