What is a Professional Learning Community?

As defined by SA Govt, Dept of Education and Child Development

Professional Learning Communities:

are an ongoing process

have a collective purpose

are strongest when they are long term

have members who are committed to actions that enhance student learning

can also be known as teacher learning communities, communities of practice,

collaborative planning processes or learning teams.

• use action research• use student data• have a collective enquiry to achieve high learning outcomes for students• be a safe learning environment, where power is shared• have members who inspire and encourage each other’s learning• have high expectations and support to achieve desired outcomes• respond to changing needs and involve everyone in deciding the direction and focus of the PLC in relation to the curriculum.

Professional Learning Communities will:

‘... the most promising approach we have found for focusing on

teacher actions is teacher learning communities. In these small, building-based groups, each

participating teacher develops a specific plan for what he or

she wants to change in his or her classroom practice. The groups meet regularly to support team

members in carrying out and refining their plans’.

– Dylan Wiliam

Why learn in a professional learning community?

be avid, ongoing learners about their professional work and actively participate

in collegiate learning learn together by sharing their thinking, practice, programs and responses to

students’ work reflect, through the learner’s lens, on the impact of what they do, say and imply

seek to clarify their own assumptions and work towards congruence between beliefs

and practice understand the role of intellectual conflict in learning, and will not confuse this with

personal conflict develop their professional language to

describe their work explicitly and accurately.

If teachers and leaders engage in professional learning communities and networks, they will:

An effective professional learning community has an impact on:

• students’ learning process and progress, attitudes, attendance

• individual teachers’ and other staffs’ practice, morale, recruitment and retention

• leadership capacity for learning across the whole school

• a school’s capacity to engage successfully in networks and partnerships beyond the school.

To support professional learning communities, leaders will:

• ensure learners have time to meet and talk

• provide appropriate learning spaces• support learners with relevant resources• ensure communication mechanisms

are sound• align learning with improvement plans• provide professional development

coordination and planning• model learning by being a learner

themselves.

TEAM CYCLEImage source: http://bit.ly/OkAlAR

Food for thought

A professional learning community is a community where we can learn

the ‘artistry’ of teaching.A community where teachers and

leaders provide support and challenge for each other to learn new practices and to unlearn old

assumptions, beliefs and practices.

Milbrey McLaughlin

McLaughlin M (1997) 'Rebuilding teacher professionalism in the United States' in Hargreaves A & Evans R (eds) Beyond educational reform: Bringing teacher back in. Open University Press, Buckingham