Abstract
This paper attempts to find the synergies between Professional Learning Community (PLC) and Community of Practice (CoP), with the view to enhance teacher professionalism. Based on the review of literatures, we highlight the different motivations of PLCs and CoPs, and the value-assumptions informing the two initiatives. We argue that both initiatives serve critical functions in augmenting teacher autonomy. Although conceptually distinctive, the underpinning values of the approaches to organizing teacher professional communities are complementary. Therefore, a two-prong approach is proposed. One seeds teacher professionalism through emergent best practices. The other consolidates these best practices into a coherent teacher professional identity through the introduction of structural affordances.
Highlights
Literature Review of the Conceptual Premises of PLCs and Community of Practice (CoP)Confluences in PracticeThe Professional Learning Community, within the education context, refers to the active engagement in professional learning, with the aim of enhancing teacher professional identity
This paper attempts to find the synergies between Professional Learning Community (PLC) and Community of Practice (CoP), with the view to enhance teacher professionalism
CoPs engage teachers as professional practitioners, with amorphous community obligations to allow for the emergence of professional innovation
Summary
The Professional Learning Community, within the education context, refers to the active engagement in professional learning, with the aim of enhancing teacher professional identity. The CoP is, according to Wenger, McDermott, and Snyder (2002), a congregation of practitioners who seek to deepen knowledge expertise (4). It is through the process of ongoing practice that members develop professionally (Lave & Wenger, 1991). As with PLCs, the structure of CoPs are loosely defined and “members” are usually part of networks or other larger organizations In schools, this implies that the teachers may be part of small networks (e.g. dedicated to improvements in assessment) or a large cluster of schools (e.g. groups of schools in a district) (Wenger & Snyder, 2000). The similarities between the two constructs stop there and scholars agree on how they differ (McDermott & Archibald, 2010; Raven, 2003; Wenger & Snyder, 2000)
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