#55: Unpacking Flexibility in Teacher Professional Learning on WhatsApp Messaging Network Platform

This study examines how flexibility manifests as a lived practice within a voluntary WhatsApp-based teachers’ professional community. While flexibility is a recognized affordance of online learning, its role in teacher professional networks remains undertheorized. Drawing on 2,307 posts across 349 conversations among 146 teachers, we conceptualized and measured flexibility through three dimensions: temporal, concerning engagement during discretionary time; sequential, involving the recurrence of conversations; and structural, which maps network connections across discussions. The analysis reveals profound temporal flexibility, with nearly two-thirds of posts occurring outside school hours and over a 40% during holidays and summer break. Although recurring conversations constituted 11% of discussions, they generated 25.4% of posts and were longer with statistically significant differences. These recurring discussions formed the network’s core, effectively integrating teachers and sustaining dialogue. These findings demonstrate that flexibility is not a static design feature but a dynamic, socially constructed practice fundamental to professional growth.