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1.
Professional learning communities (PLCs) have gained considerable attention in education. However, PLCs are dependent on how group members collectively work and learn towards shared goals on improving teaching and learning. This would require leadership to support meaningful and productive interactions within PLC contexts, and hence, the importance of teacher leaders. In this article, we report on an ethnographic case study involving three PLCs investigating how teacher leadership supports PLC conversations using an intervention framework provided by the research team. The findings showed that teacher leadership has potential in supporting PLC conversations along three dimensions of its construct.  相似文献   

2.
ABSTRACT

Facilitators are central for the success of professional learning communities (PLCs). Yet, their specific roles in supporting teacher learning remain still largely underexplored. To address this gap, the current multiple case study examines the roles of 4 university PLC facilitators, the strategies they used to support teacher learning, and the challenges they experienced in their work. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and document analysis of facilitators’ reflective journals and annual reports. Our findings revealed that the roles of PLC facilitators must continuously adapt to the needs of the community. Facilitators’ tasks ranged from organizing group work and supporting community building to generating opportunities for teacher learning by stimulating reflection and by providing access to relevant resources and continuous feedback. Challenges associated with their roles included time limitations, the need to avoid the image of experts, and keeping a critical stance whilst building a close relationship with the PLC.  相似文献   

3.
《Africa Education Review》2013,10(2):395-411
Abstract

Poor learner performance in South African schools raises concerns related to lack of commitment and accountability from school leaders and teachers with no common vision to promote a culture of high learner performance. This paper provides a literature overview of research available on the impact of professional learning communities (PLC) on effective teaching and practices to promote higher levels of learning amongst students; the nature of PLCs; their essential characteristics, developmental stages and challenges; and an assessment of the benefits of PLC in schools and the challenges of PLC from other researchers’ observations. PLCs are necessary to encourage collaborative teamwork on essential outcomes and intervention activities in learning. Finally, I conclude by exploring how South African schools can benefit from the practices of professional learning communities which endeavour to improve teaching practices and poor learner achievement.  相似文献   

4.
Factors leading to successful professional learning communities (PLCs) have been widely discussed in the West, but little is known about how/whether teachers’ beliefs contribute to PLCs in the Chinese context. This qualitative case study aimed to investigate teachers’ beliefs about teacher learning in PLCs and their influence on collegial learning activities in two departments of a Hong Kong secondary school. Semi-structured interviews and observations were employed to collect data. The findings indicate that teachers in the Chinese Department believed that learning could be achieved in PLCs and their practices of collegial activities were conducive to teacher learning. Conversely, teachers in the English Department did not believe that interacting with colleagues would foster learning and their collegial activities yielded limited accomplishment in teacher growth. It is suggested that teachers’ beliefs play an important role in facilitating or impeding reform initiatives on teacher development. Implications for teacher education and further studies are discussed.  相似文献   

5.
Abstract

This study explored the characteristics of professional learning communities (PLCs) in Hong Kong primary schools. It investigated the profiles of the strengths of professional learning community in schools under study and particularly examined the practices in schools which were identified as strong PLCs. It extends research on PLCs in the Hong Kong context and formulates a quantitative perspective to compare and validate PLC variables across schools in Hong Kong. The Professional Learning Community Questionnaire (PLCQ) for Hong Kong schools was developed to assess the PLC practices in six different areas: leadership for teacher learning, collaborative learning capacity, student-focused orientation, a culture of sharing, mutual understanding and support, and continuous professional development. A composite construct, the Professional Learning Community Index (PLCI) expressed in quantitative terms was utilized to assess the strength of PLC in a school. The research findings show that within the schools which were identified as strong professional learning communities, both the school leaders and teachers had strong emphases on the six subscales of the PLC practices.  相似文献   

6.
Research suggests effective professional learning communities (PLCs) enhance teacher collaboration and student achievement. Some studies indicate that these communities also predict greater collective efficacy, while others suggest teacher efficacy is predictive of teachers working together. Although studies have identified effective, research-based PLC practices, how these specific practices effect collective efficacy has not been thoroughly studied. This study, using structural equation modeling (SEM), investigated the relationship between PLCs and teachers’ collective efficacy drawing on 310 surveys from 16 schools in 1 district that had systematically implemented PLCs. Our findings showed that higher functioning PLCs predict higher levels of teacher collective efficacy (TCE). This suggests that engaging and supporting teachers in PLC work, as this district did, can lead to enhanced collective efficacy, which in turn can contribute to improved student achievement.  相似文献   

7.
ABSTRACT

Drawing upon recent theorising of numbers and data, and applications to schooling, this paper reveals how tensions between more accountability-oriented logics, and more contextually-situated conceptions of engagement with data, played out in one school in a regional community in northern Queensland, Australia. The research reveals that at the same time teachers’ work and learning were heavily influenced by more reductive processes of quantification to account for teachers’ practices, teachers also sought to draw upon the attention to numeric markers of student achievement to foster more substantive teacher learning for student learning. These tensions were expressed in relation to: efforts to foster improved student learning through collection of evidence via ‘short-term data cycles’; engagement in various ‘data conversations’ with senior members of staff, and coaching by more experienced teachers, and; broader teacher learning initiatives focused on enhancing outcomes for specified groups of students identified as able to perform at higher levels of attainment. The research cautions that such practices present a quandary; even as broader processes of quantification of education may stimulate instances of more ongoing, substantive teacher learning for student learning, more performative applications of these numbers and data mitigate against the educative potential of such practices, and substantive learning for all students.  相似文献   

8.
Abstract

STEM outreach programmes in secondary schools are mediated by STEM teachers who are responsible for organising, implementing and evaluating the activities with a view to promoting STEM subjects. However, research investigating teachers’ STEM roles and professional development through participation in outreach activities is limited. This paper explores teachers’ views of STEM activities, how they understand their role as primary facilitators and the impact of their STEM engagement on their professional development. STEM outreach provides distinct opportunities for situated and dialogic learning. STEM teachers’ effectiveness in engaging students by demonstrating the importance and relevance of STEM subjects in the real world and engaging captivating STEM outreach partners not only supports students learning but also enhances their opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills. Semi structured interviews were conducted with eleven teachers from six different schools in the West Midlands, United Kingdom. The data reveals STEM facilitators become the ‘face’ of STEM to their pupils. The expertise, knowledge and partnerships STEM facilitators develop, broadens their capacity to deliver teaching imbued with real world applications and improve students’ understanding of the range of new and upcoming careers available. Most importantly, participating in STEM outreach activities help teachers maintain and reinforce their own sense of identity as STEM professionals. Outreach activities provide opportunities for teachers to interact with leading scientists and obtain exposure to cutting-edge research.  相似文献   

9.
Abstract

In a context of increasing demand for quality and equity in education and a sharp focus on accountability, classroom teachers are also expected to support and improve learning outcomes for pupils in response to their individual needs. This paper explores three issues: how teachers understand assessment in relation to their students’ learning, the curriculum and their pedagogical choices; how teachers’ capacity to use assessment to improve students’ learning can be developed through career-long professional learning (CLPL); and how teachers’ learning can be implemented and sustained in schools, both locally and nationally. In considering these issues, recent thinking about learning and assessment and CLPL are considered alongside empirical evidence from the development and implementation of assessment processes and approaches to professional development in Scotland. The paper emphasises the importance of a dynamic framework of CLPL that recognises the individuality of teachers’ learning needs and the consequent need for tailored professional learning opportunities with different combinations of support and challenge at school, local and national levels.  相似文献   

10.
ABSTRACT

Understanding the relationship between innovative learning spaces and teachers’ pedagogical and social practices is essential given the increasing investment in innovative learning spaces worldwide. This study examined the socio-spatial practices of a group of teachers at a secondary school in an innovative learning space. Interview responses from 21 teachers revealed that space and social practices co-became through the interplay of the school culture, the physical, social and curriculum structures, and individual teachers’ sense-making of the practice. The study found that the cultural and structural systems drove the initial becoming of social practices, and that the individual systems shaped the diversified nature of the becoming. The findings suggest the importance of supporting teachers’ sense-making in terms of conceptions of subject teaching, professional identity, the affordances and constraints of the space and confidence in and capacity of constructing and managing effective learning experience in the space, when effecting educational changes with space.  相似文献   

11.
Although improving teachers' classroom strategies presents the primary goal of PLCs, empirical evidence is still scarce, mainly derived from case-study material and confined to (pre-) K12 settings. We use profiling techniques and a comparative design to examine (a) distinct configurations in which PLCs occur within vocational school departments, and (b) their relations to instructional quality. Multilevel latent profile analysis, based on teacher assessments of core PLC dimensions, reveals three configurations. Multilevel multiple group analysis of students’ instructional ratings shows that teachers from Advanced PLC departments create more authentic, application-oriented learning environments than teachers from other departments.  相似文献   

12.
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13.
The purpose of this article is to analyse teachers’ perceptions of using the modular object-oriented dynamic learning environment (Moodle) platform as a learning management system in a small-scale blended learning (b-learning) Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) programme for in-service secondary school mathematics teachers in South Africa. It describes how the Moodle platform was used in combination with on-campus and later off-campus contact sessions for a widely dispersed population of 76 in-service mathematics teachers over a four-year period. Qualitative data was gathered by means of a questionnaire with open-ended items, while quantitative data was gathered from the centre's archives. The main findings were that Moodle enabled in-service teachers to experience social, cognitive and teaching presences, through synchronous and asynchronous discussions with peers and facilitators, and a teaching presence by submitting their inquiries and assignments online for facilitators to provide them with answers and feedback. The main obstacles to the integration of Moodle were limited availability of technology, slow speed, and unaffordable cost when available. With increased broadband connectivity Moodle holds the prospect for diversifying b-learning experiences that can support teachers’ professional learning outcomes and throughput for distributed populations of practising mathematics teachers, in particular.  相似文献   

14.
Abstract

This research aimed to investigate the key factors of developing effective professional learning communities (PLCs) within the Taiwanese context. Four constructs – supportive and shared leadership, shared visions, collegial trust, and shared practices – were adopted and developed into an instrument for measuring PLC function. A stratified random sampling was conducted with the strata of geographic areas. Out of 335 high schools, 51 schools were chosen and 612 copies of the questionnaires were distributed to teachers. After excluding invalid questionnaires, 444 questionnaires were collected from 34 schools, yielding a response rate of 73%. The final version of the questionnaire had 19 items with a 6-point Likert-type scale. Using confirmative factor analysis, the four factors in the conception of PLCs were confirmed. The results of the structural equation modelling indicated that a collegial trust relationship was strongly and directly related to shared practices, and was an important mediating factor between supportive and shared leadership, shared visions, and shared practices. In other words, shared vision along with supportive and shared leadership, through collegiality and trust relationships, could help school members collectively learn, collaborate, innovate, inquire, reflect, and give feedback to one another in the form of shared PLC practices.  相似文献   

15.
ABSTRACT

The authors examined the characterization of mathematical knowledge of teachers using educative curriculum materials. In particular, they investigated knowledge of change and rate of change (in the context of algebra and functions) of 12 teachers with differing levels of experience. Participants used a same set of curriculum materials that embed features that had potential to be educative for teachers. Data were collected using a mathematical task-based interview. The analyses suggest that context played an important role with regard to teachers’ ability to explore complex situations. Teachers with a high level of experience teaching the educative curriculum materials showed greater success in dealing with complex problems and recognizing similar and contrasting characteristics of different types of representations across contexts. The findings suggest that curriculum materials can be designed to assist teachers’ learning in ways that contribute to establishing contexts where teacher learning takes place.  相似文献   

16.
ABSTRACT

The synergies that result from synthesising conceptual models and findings from self-regulated learning and formative assessment research are launching a new era of scholarship. They drive new questions about how to help students to internalise complimentary self-regulatory and assessment knowledge, skills, and dispositions as well as how to prepare teachers and education systems to prioritise and support this work. The articles in this special issue illustrate the power and importance of studying how self-regulation and classroom assessment emerge from social, contextual, historical, and cultural factors. Four themes emerged from the articles in this special issue, including new conceptualisations of self-regulated learning and formative assessment, insights regarding teachers’ dual role in enacting and promoting self-regulation, recognition of the critical role of students’ ability to productively use assessment information, and the need to instantiate self-regulated learning and assessment literacy as formal and valued curricular outcomes.  相似文献   

17.
Research has shown that adequate support from the school environment is necessary to help beginning teachers in applying differentiated instruction (DI), but how schools can aid in this process remains unclear. This qualitative study explores how professional learning communities (PLCs), an indicator of a supportive school environment, can enhance beginning teachers’ professional learning in DI. Furthermore, it examines how structural and cultural school conditions foster the development of PLCs in the schools’ organization. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with school leaders, special needs coordinators, and beginning teachers in primary schools. A comparative analysis was carried out in three schools with high (case A), medium (case B), and low (case C) levels of beginning teachers’ professional learning in DI, as assessed by changes in practice (i.e. teachers’ flexibility in adapting their classroom behaviour). The comparative analysis indicated that the three cases could be situated at different stages of PLC development. Case A had reached the mature stage, whereas case B was in the evolving stage and case C was still in the beginning stage of PLC development. Also, the analysis indicated that structural and cultural school conditions in the three cases were related to the different stages of PLC development. Finally, the results revealed that in the three cases, leadership of both the principal and special needs coordinator played a key role in the development of the structural and cultural school conditions.  相似文献   

18.
ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate how three Chinese teachers developed their teacher identities in a reform context. Drawing upon data from a larger social historical study, the work-life narratives of the three teachers at different stages of their careers were used as case studies to showcase three types of teacher identity development trajectories, namely, learning to be both professional educator and subject teaching expert，learning to be subject teaching expert, and navigating to balance between educator and subject teacher. This study also investigated the factors that influence identity development trajectories of teachers and develops a conceptual framework for understanding teacher identity development in China. The framework shows that Chinese teachers’ exertion of their individual agency is embedded in the institutional context. Meanwhile, interpersonal relationships can work as a buffer to alleviate the tension between the institution and individual teachers. The study also shows the ways in which Chinese teachers’ exert their agency when developing their identities. The findings have significant implications for teacher education in terms of how to develop positive teacher identity over the course of a teacher’s career.  相似文献   

19.
Background: This paper discusses teachers’ perspectives on learning networks and their motives for participating in these networks. Although it is widely held that teachers’ learning may be developed through learning networks, not all teachers participate in such networks.

Purpose: The theme of reciprocity, central to studies in the area of learning in networks, is often approached from a rational exchange perspective. This study attempts to extend this approach with reference to the concept of symbolic interactionism. The study was guided by the following research question: What is the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of learning networks and their motives for participation or non-participation in these networks?

Design and methods: In order to address this research question, semi-structured interviews among 25 teachers in secondary education in the Netherlands were carried out. The semi-structured interviews consisted of three parts: background information, perspectives on learning networks and personal experiences with those networks. Data were analysed qualitatively and analyses consisted of within-case analysis, and cross-case analysis of interview fragments. Three themes were considered: (1) perspectives on learning networks, (2) motives for participation perceived as rational exchange, (3) motives for participation perceived as related to social order.

Findings: The findings are presented around these three themes. Each theme is discussed in relation to relevant aspects from the literature. Findings indicated that teachers perceived learning networks to be organised both within-school and outside school, and mostly focused around specific content knowledge. Reasons for participation or non-participation were related to rational costs and rewards (such as time, technology, self-efficacy); in symbolic motives (such as joy, sharing and mutual understanding), and also in a sense of meaning that resulted from networking activities.

Conclusions: We conclude that, in addition to social exchange motives, the data suggest that symbolic aspects of communication and interaction play an important role in considerations for participation in learning networks. This may be described in terms of four ‘types’ of networking teachers: the Community focused networking teacher, the Locally focused networking teacher, the Not-yet-networking teacher, and the Non-networking teacher. It is hoped that these exploratory findings could be helpful in supporting the development of learning networks for all teachers.  相似文献   

20.
Research suggests that professional development that engages teachers in instructional inquiry over an extended time through collaborative professional learning communities (PLCs) is effective in improving instruction and student achievement. Still, most professional development is offered as short-duration workshops that are not effective in changing practice. Barriers to the implementation of PLCs include lack of shared meeting time and a shortage of teachers who share the same subject areas or common goals and interests. Convening teachers from multiple districts can alleviate this problem, but teachers are reluctant to travel for meetings due to time and cost restraints. Video-conferencing software offers a solution to these barriers while serving to foster the sense of community needed for PLCs to be effective. The researchers describe the use of Virtual PLCs in which two groups of teachers met monthly for one school year to collaboratively analyze evidence collected as part of their teacher inquiry plans. With help from a facilitator, these groups developed a relationship similar to other groups meeting face-to-face as part of the same professional development program. Analysis of the reflections of teacher-participants and facilitators revealed that teachers prefer face-to-face meetings, but that the virtual and face-to-face meetings provided teachers with similar social interactions in the PLC experience. The findings suggest that teachers perceive videoconferencing as an effective tool for facilitating PLCs when distance and time are practical barriers to face-to-face meetings. Practical considerations for developing and facilitating virtual PLCs are also discussed.  相似文献   

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