Professional Learning Communities in Peninsular Malaysia: Comparing Day Secondary School and National Religious Secondary School

Abstract

The main aim of the study was to examine and compare the implementation of professional learning communities (PLCs) in Day Secondary School (DSS) and National Religious Secondary School (NRSS) in Peninsular Malaysia. A total of 350 teachers from DSS and 371 from NRSS completed the survey with usable data. The results revealed that, i) both DSS and NRSS achieved the level of Quite Good in PLCs, its dimensions as well as its sub-dimensions; ii) NRSS achieved a higher mean score than DSS in PLCs, Organizational Factor as well as Non-organizational Factor and the differences were significant; iii) both DSS and NRSS achieved a higher mean score in Organization Factor than Non-Organizational Factor; iv) among all the sub-dimensions of PLCs, both DSS and NRSS achieved the highest mean score in Shared Norms and Vision; v) among all the sub-dimensions of PLCs, DSS achieved the lowest mean score in External Support System whereas NRSS achieved the lowest mean score in Structural Support. This study contributes to the field of learning organization and provides practical insights for educational practitioners and researchers in advancing a more comprehensive analysis in exploring PLCs towards continuous and sustained school improvement.