Teacher Professional Learning Communities Research Articles

Research on the Construction of Teacher Professional Learning. Community in the Web 3.0 Era

China’s teacher education reform has always advocated the establishment of a teacher-professional learning community to promote teacher professional development and school progress. In the Web 3.0 era, the increasingly open, secure, and fair network has created conditions for the teacher professional learning community to conduct data confirmation. However, in China, the phenomenon of a “silent spiral” has emerged in the professional learning community of teachers, that is, the inferior opinions of teachers in the professional learning community turn to “silent”, and the superior opinions shout, which to a certain extent hinders the creation, protection, and sharing of teacher metadata, affects the development of data right confirmation in the field of education, and slows down the pace of teacher education practice. This study mainly focuses on the value of building a Chinese teacher professional learning community in the Web 3.0 era, the specific difficulties and reasons, and how to develop a Chinese teacher professional learning community in the future. This study mainly adopts the method of documentary review and draws on the “spiral of silence” theory, which regards the expression of opinions and the spread of “silence” as a spiral process of social communication, and influences and restricts public opinion by creating an “opinion environment”. It is found that under the background of the Web 3.0 era, there is an information cocoon in the professional learning community of teachers, and teachers are affected by the diversity of information. Teachers fear independence and generally produce a herd mentality. It is easy to ignore the disadvantageous climate in the professional learning community of teachers, resulting in the continuous silence of teachers. In addition, teacher groups tend to be too stressed and unable to resist the opinion environment. Therefore, the research draws the following conclusions, the construction of teacher professional learning community should adhere to positive guidance, cultivate the correct learning concept, and build the core value concept; Strengthen teachers’ group consciousness, establish a common vision, and make teachers have a sense of belonging to the community; Coordinate the “online + offline”, build a learning mechanism, and salvage the silent voice of the group in the professional learning community of teachers; Provide supporting conditions around the key development issues of the community to promote the growth of opinion climate.

Teacher leadership in professional learning communities in early childhood education: A Chinese perspective

To address the research gap in exploring teacher leadership and professional learning community (PLC) in early childhood education in China, this study explored how PLC members enacted leadership and how preschool principals influenced the enactment of such leadership. Purposive sampling was used to select research participants based on the current local governmental preschool quality ratings: Excellent, Good, and Average. Data were collected from three public preschools with corresponding levels of autonomy and hierarchical structures, and semistructured interviews were conducted with nine preschool practitioners. In terms of roles, PLC leaders served as pseudo leaders, and classroom teachers served as active learners but passive leaders in PLCs. PLC members implemented strategies that included the provision of learning support and communication to facilitate PLCs. Although preschool principals were found to serve as helmsmen, they positively managed the learning programmes and invited experts to conduct teacher training.

A roadmap for virtual professional learning: Bringing inquiry science practices to life through teacher professional community

AbstractAccording to the Next Generation Science Standards, three‐dimensional teaching challenges educators to adopt an inquiry approach through science and engineering practices aligned with disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concepts. Few teachers today feel confident in their ability to orchestrate such lessons. Teaching inquiry science takes time and hard work. It also requires collaborative professional learning communities that support teachers in overcoming typical classroom challenges. This article describes an effective approach for facilitating professional learning that supports inquiry science teaching. Since the COVID pandemic, more teachers are familiar with videoconferencing and may even have initiated or expanded their use of asynchronous text based discussion. A hybrid combination of these platforms provides an effective, two‐fold strategy for facilitating a teacher professional learning community (PLC) that engages teachers in deepened reflection and sustained collaboration with colleagues. To illustrate how this approach can be successfully adopted, I draw from a recent example of the InquirySpace PLC that unfolded during the final year of a National Science Foundation‐funded educational research project. Key to the success of this PLC was a combination of responsiveness to teachers’ support requests, a warm and encouraging tone, orchestrating interactive engagement, and the showcasing of PLC member voices.

The New Curriculum Implementation in Indonesia: A Study in Two Primary Schools

The new 2013 curriculum has just been implemented recently in Indonesia from primary to secondary school levels. There are a lot of criticisms towards the implementation, especially in the schools’ readiness to apply the new curriculum in the real classroom. This study aims to investigate the role of school leaders in the new curriculum implementation. Several aspects were also examined: teacher professional development with regards to the curriculum implementation, how schools involve parents prior and during the curriculum implementation, supporting factors for the implementation and factors that hinder the success of the new curriculum implementation. Data were gathered from school leaders, teachers, and parents. The findings show that school leaders in these schools play an important role by exercising transformational leadership and shared instructional leadership. Continuous teacher professional development and professional learning community are other important factors for the success of the new curriculum implementation. Time constraints and limited resources are reported to be the hindering factors. The findings show that albeit schools acknowledge the importance of parental involvement in students’ learning, schools have not given adequate support that parents need in order to be fully involved in their children’s learning.

The Influence of Transformational Leadership on Enhancing of Teacher's Professional Learning Community: A Conceptual Paper

The Influence of Transformational Leadership on Enhancing of Teacher's Professional Learning Community: A Conceptual Paper

The Relationship of Headmasters' Distributive Leadership towards Professional Learning Community Practices

Professional learning communities are fostered when educators collaborate in a culture that values community, investigates student achievement and shares instructional strategies. It enhances educational, learning, and student achievement. The study intends to determine the connection between headmasters' distributive leadership and professional learning community practices in Teluk Intan district primary schools. A total of 113 teachers were chosen randomly for the sample. A questionnaire with a Likert scale was employed to collect the data. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for data analyses. Overall results demonstrated that school headmaster distributive leadership is high in schools. A significant positive correlation exists between headmasters' distributive leadership and teacher professional learning community practices. One of the main recommendations for future researchers is to focus on schools such as cluster or high-performing schools. Current research results could be applied to determine how much headmasters provide distributive leadership in encouraging school personnel to participate in a professional learning community.

Exploring the Operational Status and Improvements of Village Learning Curriculum – Focusing on Document Analysis and Teachers’ Recognition on Middle School -

이 연구는 마을학습 교육과정이 현행 학교계획서에 어떻게 반영되고 있는지를 분석하고, 교사의 인식을 통해 마을학습 교육과정의 운영 현황과 개선 방안을 탐색하는 데 목적이 있다. 이를 위해 이 연구는 중학교의 학교교육계획서를 분석하고, 설문조사를 통해 마을학습 교육과정에 대한 교사의 인식을 탐색하였다. 이러한 과정을 거쳐 도출된 연구 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 학교교육계획서에 반영된 마을학습 교육과정은 주로 지역사회의 인적·물적 자원을 활용하여 운영되고 있다. 둘째, 중학교 교사들은 마을학습 교육과정이 학교와 지역사회의 공동체 형성을 위해 필요하며 학교와 마을의 소통이 필요하다고 인식하고 있다. 또한, 구나 동보다는 시 단위 그리고 마을의 시설을 활용한 마을학습 교육과정에 높은 인식을 보였고, 교육의 제반 영역에서 운영하는 것이 적절하다고 인식하고 있다. 그리고 교사의 업무 부담 가중과 교육과정의 학습 내용 과다를 마을학습 교육과정 운영의 가장 큰 저해 요인으로 꼽았다. 이상의 결과를 바탕으로 지역중심 마을학습 교육과정에서는 중학교 교과와 연결된 교육과정의 개발이 필요하고 교사에게 업무 부담을 줄여 주며 개발한 교육과정을 효율적으로 홍보하고, 학교 중심 마을학습 교육과정의 활성화를 위해서는 교사역량 강화 연수 및 전문적 학습공동체의 운영이 필요하다고 보았다.The purpose of this study is to analyze how the village learning curriculum is reflected in the current school plan, and to explore the operational status and improvement plans of the village learning curriculum through teachers' perceptions. To this end, this study analyzed school education plans of middle school and explored teachers' perceptions of the village learning curriculum through a questionnaire survey. The research results derived from this process are as follows. First, the village learning curriculum reflected in the school education plan was operated mainly by utilizing the human and material resources of the local community. Second, regarding the operation of the village learning curriculum, middle school teachers recognized that the village learning curriculum was necessary for community formation between the school and the local community and that communication between school and village education was necessary. In addition, regarding the content, high awareness was shown on the contents of the city unit and the village learning curriculum using the village's facilities, and it was recognized that it was appropriate to operate in the creative experiential activity area for the operation method and time. And as for the factors hindering the village learning curriculum, the increased work burden of teachers and excessive learning contents of the current curriculum were found to hinder the village learning curriculum the most. Based on the above results, the following are suggestions for improving the operation of the village learning curriculum. First, the diversification and publicity of the local village learning curriculum should be strengthened. Second, teacher capacity building training and professional learning communities to develop and operate a school-centered village learning curriculum should be activated.

교육 ODA 경험에 대한 한국 교사들의 내러티브

Objectives This paper analyzes the meaning of Korean teachers who led online training for Azerbaijani teachers as an educational official development assistance (ODA) project of KOICA to strengthen learner-centered education competency. In other words, by examining how Korean teachers' experiences of participating in educational ODA projects are interpreted and meaningful to them, it was intended to suggest implications for educational ODA in Korean society, which is ultimately expanding its role as a donor country.
 Methods To this end, a total of three group interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview method with 12 Korean teachers who took the roles of instructors, coaches, and supervisors, and led the Azerbaijani teacher training program. The interview results were analyzed by topic according to the qualitative research paradigm.
 Results The results of the Korean teachers' experiences of teacher training for Azerbaijan teachers can be summarized as follows: 1) Education ODA as a ‘contact zone’ 2) Confirmation and improvement of self-efficacy 3) Education ODA as an opportunity of ‘lifelong learning’ as a teacher 4) Creation of aspirations for international teacher professional learning community. In particular, Korean teachers showed the development of cooperative interaction between donor and recipient countries and a sense of community solidarity while understanding the situation, educational environment and culture of Azerbaijani teachers and accepting their trials and errors.
 Conclusions Based on the results of the study, the implications and future tasks for Korean society, which is expanding and deepening its role as a donor country in educational ODA quantitatively and qualitatively, were discussed in relation to teacher competency reinforcement. In particular, through the experience of Korean teachers who took on multifaceted roles such as training planning to strengthen learner-centered educational capabilities of Azerbaijani teachers, as instructors, coaches, and supervisors, implications related to the perception, attitude, and practice of teachers in donor countries in educational ODA were analyzed. discussed.

The Relationship of Principals’ Distributive Leadership towards Professional Learning Community Practices in Gombak District (Malaysia) Secondary Schools

Leadership in education state that it is a key factor in the development of a school. Thus, leadership in education is now more focused on distributive leadership which emphasizes on how to form a culture of leadership responsibility among leaders to assist in the implementation of professional learning community practices. The local Professional Learning Community is described as a local community that forms a culture that shows all school children learn and become a learner. The study aims to identify the relationship of principals’ distributive leadership towards professional learning community practices in Gombak district secondary schools. The population of the study is 3189 teachers that working in secondary schools across Gombak district. From the said population, 346 teachers are chosen as the research sample. The research instrument used was a questionnaire and the results were analysed through the SPSS. The research finding highlighted that the level of distributive leadership practices of principals in schools were at high level and findings also show that the level of professional learning community practice among teachers in schools also is at high level as well. Research outcome also found that there is a very strong and significant a relationship between head teacher distributive leadership and professional learning community practices among school teachers. Findings can also be used as a basic guide by the district education and state education department as one of the things that can be shared with leaders or other principals during the monthly meeting. Future researcher can expand their finding to primary schools, or focus on specific schools such as cluster schools or high-performing schools and study can also be extended to Universities as well as colleges or should also be extended from one district to state and even to several specific states to the whole of Malaysia.

A Review of Related Literature of PLCs from Hermeneutics Perspectives

The studies of teacher learning and professional learning communities have arisen and received considerable attention in recent decades. Some researchers argue that the institutional and cultural contexts should be taken into consideration when examining issues related to PLCs. Being an approach which takes a systematic and critical reflection on the content of the written text, this study adopts the hermeneutics to disclose the conceptions as well as the characteristics of PLCs from different perspectives of both western and the Chinese scholars. Although there is no universal accepted definition of PLCs, it is found that developing PLCs involves building shared vision and broadening organizational, personal and interpersonal capacities within the learning organizations.

The Growth of Teacher’s Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching as Participating in a Primary School Teacher’s Professional Learning Community

Teacher’s Professional Learning Community (PLC) should effectively operate through sharing teaching resources, professional dialogues, and collaboration to reduce pupil’s learning achievement gaps and make teaching close to their learning experiences through providing learning scaffolding. This study adopts a qualitative research method to investigate the change of participants’ Mathematics Knowledge for Teaching (MKT) of a primary school teacher PLC which has been running for three years. The three research subjects are experienced teachers and none of whom are mathematics or science majors. According to the framework of the MKT (Hill et al. 2008), the qualitative data which include PLC meeting videos, lesson observation sheets, interviews, and learning feedback are analyzed and triangulated by the researchers and other mathematics educators. The results show that PLC may help teachers improve their MKT. At the beginning of the PLC, the discourse was mainly related to the teacher’s Knowledge of Special Content Knowledge (SCK) and Knowledge of Content and Teaching (KCT). It reveals that the participants ought to be energized in SCK and KCT, and the PLC activities should be specially arranged in these two aspects. After the continuous professional dialogue and teaching practices, the teacher’s KCC, Knowledge of Content and Student (KCS), and Special Content Knowledge (SCK) are improved most significantly, which also promotes the student learning achievements. Keywords: mathematics teaching, teacher professional development, teacher professional learning community, mathematics knowledge for teaching

Vietnamese Primary School Teachers’ Needs for Professional Development in Response to Curriculum Reform

This qualitative study explored the needs for teacher professional development (PD) of Vietnamese primary school teachers. The participants of the study were ten teachers at ten different primary schools in a large city in Vietnam. The data included in-depth individual interviews with the participating teachers. Qualitative analysis of the interview transcripts revealed several interesting insights into the teachers’ perspectives on PD, their regular PD activities, and their needs for PD. All the teachers considered PD essential for their demanding teaching job. They reported having attended various PD programs and activities provided by their schools, and the department of education and training at the province and district levels. They also participated in several teacher professional learning communities available on the Internet. However, the teachers expressed a need for more PD programs and activities, especially in the context of curriculum reforms. Notably, they preferred to attend PD courses which were more practical and relevant to their work. In addition, they highly appreciated the hands-on activities and opportunities to interact with teacher trainers and educators. These findings were interpreted and discussed in relation to the sociocultural contexts of Vietnamese primary education. The study also discussed implications for PD course designers and teacher educators in Vietnamese primary school contexts and beyond.

The effects of instructional leadership, teacher responsibility and procedural justice climate on professional learning communities: A cross-level moderated mediation examination

Prior research has established principal leadership as a key factor in enhancing professional learning communities. However, researchers are only beginning to make progress in identifying the means and ‘paths’ through which school leaders contribute to professional learning communities. This study tested a multilevel, moderated mediation model of the processes linking instructional leadership and professional learning communities in China where professional learning communities have long been embedded in the culture of schools. In this study, ‘teacher responsibility’ was proposed as a mediator and procedural justice climate as a moderator of the relationship between principal leadership and teacher professional learning communities. The results based on the analysis of responses from 3374 teachers revealed significant direct and indirect effects of instructional leadership on the professional learning communities via teacher responsibility. Procedural justice climate significantly moderated the effects of instructional leadership on both teacher responsibility and professional learning communities. The positive effects of instructional leadership were strengthened when the procedural justice climate was higher.

Features of a Developing Mathematics Professional Learning Community and Affordances for Teacher Learning Opportunities

Professional learning communities are commonly as a viable model for on-going and productive teacher learning. However few studies have investigated how such communities develop to become fully functional and sustainable learning communities. This study investigated features of a developing teacher professional learning community and opportunities for learning. Five mathematics teachers in one township primary school in South Africa and the two authors of this paper constituted the professional learning community. Transcripts of the audio-recorded meetings constituted the data analysed in this paper. Data analysis was done using the critical incidence approach. The findings indicate that the teachers shifted from passive to more active participants. They gradually perceived themselves as a community, sharing thinking and co-creating new meanings collaboratively. The facilitators’ roles gradually shifted from leading and intervening and probing. Opportunities for learning were created with respect to knowledge of learners’ problem solving needs, and specific instructional practices to address those needs. The findings indicate that the development of effective and sustainable professional learning communities is a gradual process that takes time, and involves shifts in roles by both facilitators and teachers.

A Study of the Operational Process of Teacher Professional Learning Communities at Senior High and Vocational School Level

A Study of the Operational Process of Teacher Professional Learning Communities at Senior High and Vocational School Level

Reform ripples: The role of recontextualization in scaling up

This paper explores how educational interventions impact the districts they are implemented in above and beyond their intended outcomes. We argue that such unplanned “ripple effects”, in which program elements are recontextualized into other settings, are an important aspect of bringing educational interventions to scale. We analyze these phenomena in one Israeli district in which a teacher leadership and professional learning community initiative has been implemented and rapidly scaled up over the past five years. Extensive longitudinal ethnographic data were collected, including participant-observation in schools, professional development workshops, district management meetings and initiative-related events; 75 interviews with teachers and school and district management; and multiple informal conversations. We identify “ripples” in four arenas, and discuss the importance of individuals as mechanisms for transferring ideas across contexts, the role of ripples in advancing the initiative’s ethos, and the ripples’ long-term sustainability. Our findings suggest more attention should be paid to the impact of educational reforms on meaningful change beyond their original aims and settings. Alongside possible affordances these ripple effects have in the scaling up process, careful consideration should be given to their latent disadvantages, such as obscuring the program’s primary agenda.

Student Learning Communities as Builders of Collective Efficacy

Using the evidence from teacher professional learning communities, we explore the ways in which students can collaborate and build their collective efficacy.

THE EFFECTS OF DISTRIBUTED LEADERSHIP ON TEACHERS’ COLLECTIVE EFFICACY AND PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY

Distributed leadership offers a new-thinking in transforming the school's leadership. Teachers' collective efficacy and professional learning community have been identified to have a strong influence on improving the teaching quality of teachers. This article examines the effects of distributed leadership of secondary school administrators on teacher collective efficacy and professional learning community. The literature suggests that distributed leadership perspective is a good alternative strategy to improve the quality of educational institutions, but empirical evidence showing the effects of distributed leadership on teachers’ collective efficacy and professional learning community that can improve the quality of teacher’s teaching is limited. Data were collected from 592 teachers working in secondary schools in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Distributed leadership of secondary school administrators were determined with Distributed Leadership Inventory developed by Hulpia (2009) while teachers’ collective efficacy was determined using the Collective Efficacy Scales developed by Goddard and Hoy (2003) and professional learning community was determined with the School Professional Staff as Learning Community Questionnaire developed by Hord (1996). Data analysis was done based on Structural Equation Modeling using AMOS software. Regression weight, variance and squared multiple correlations tests were used in data analysis. In conclusion, a strong positive relationship was revealed between distributed leadership of secondary school administrators on teachers’ collective efficacy and professional learning community. Distributed leadership of secondary school administrators was also a significant predictor of teachers’ collective efficacy and professional learning community.

Causal relationship among transformational leadership, professional learning communities, and teacher collective efficacy

ABSTRACT Through transformational leadership (TL) principals can promote teacher professional learning communities (PLCs) and strengthen teacher collective efficacy (TCE)—both of which research has shown enhance student learning. Less well understood in the literature is how these three critical variables interact. This study aims to close this gap by investigating the causal relationship between TL, TCE, and PLC drawing on 181 surveys from eight schools in one high fluency district that systematically implemented PLCs. Through a SEM analysis, TL is shown to predict both stronger PLCs and TCE, and in turn stronger PLCs are predictive of enhanced TCE. Teasing out these relationships suggests pathways leaders can use to achieve sustained improvement in student learning.

The multiplexity of professional learning communities: exploring the co-evolution of teacher social networks

ABSTRACT Research on teacher professional learning communities (PLCs) has found that part of their benefit comes from increased collegiality. And yet, while the nature of such collegiality is theoretically multifaceted and includes a combination of instrumental, expressive and substantive relationships, this multidimensional nature of PLCs is almost never studied directly. In this paper, I fill that gap by examining the dynamics of relationship formation and evolution in a multiplex social network of 70 teachers during the first year of a small school reform. Using longitudinal social network models I analyse the within and between network dynamics of three types of discussion networks: course-related, personal, and, reform-related. Results show that the formation and evolution of ties within particular discussion networks were shaped by preference for similarity in demographic characteristics and attitudes. They also show that co-evolution between networks was shaped by reform-related discussions operating as a bridge connecting personal and course ties.