scholarly journals Teaching thinking in South African schools: Selected school leaders’ perceptions

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Lena Green ◽  
Karen Collett
Keyword(s):  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Personal Factors ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Cognitive Education ◽  
Teaching Thinking

In this article we argue that school leaders should ensure that teachers experience a supportive professional learning community committed to collaborative, thoughtful inquiry and be enabled to create similar communities in their classrooms. This study followed on one published in 2017 that explored school leaders’ responses to an introduction to cognitive education. The same participants investigated cognitive education practices (ways of teaching thinking) in their schools, with an emphasis on the factors that facilitated or constrained implementation. Using a qualitative research approach an open ended research assignment in the form of a report was completed by 32 teachers in school leadership positions. The data was analysed using the guidelines of grounded theory to identify key themes. The findings suggest a possible starting point for leadership initiatives, although cognitive education practices in the participating schools were constrained by a number of structural, contextual and personal factors. Discussion highlights the importance of the development of professional learning communities that focus on cognitive education and identifies a possible leadership direction, namely, building on the progress already made in training teachers to apply Bloom’s taxonomy to assessment tasks. Although our data is from schools in one area of South Africa, our conclusions are likely to have implications for school leadership generally, with particular reference to the development of classroom and professional thinking and learning communities.

What impedes the development of professional learning communities in China? Perceptions from leaders and frontline teachers in three schools in Shanghai

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia Zhang ◽  
Rui Yuan ◽  
Shulin Yu
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Future Research ◽  
External Resources ◽  
Accountability System ◽  
Accountability Policy ◽  
Financial Power

Using qualitative data collected from three high schools in Shanghai, this study explored the barriers to the development of professional learning communities (PLCs) in Chinese schools from the perspectives of school leaders and teachers. Results indicate that the barriers identified by teachers in the development of PLCs include insufficient collaborative time, ineffective school leadership, unfavourable accountability policy, and lack of collaborative professional culture. By contrast, school leaders regard the absence of financial power, passive teachers, an unfavourable accountability system, and shortage of external resources as the major impediments to PLCs. Moreover, both similarities and differences are observed in the perceptions of teachers and school leaders regarding the barriers to PLC development. Practical implications for the effective implementation of PLCs and suggestions for future research are also presented.

scholarly journals The Influence of Distributed Leadership on Professional Learning Community among Secondary School Leaders in The State of Johore/ Pengaruh Kepimpinan Distributif Terhadap Komuniti Pembelajaran Profesional Dalam Kalangan Pemimpin Sekolah Menengah Di Negeri Johor

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Syed Syahrul Zarizi Syed Abdullah
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning Communities ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Distributed Leadership ◽  
Leadership Practices ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
The Common

Distributed leadership is a leadership theory that emphasis on cooperation among leaders. It is practiced in schools, an institution that not only educates pupils but now serves as a professional learning community for school leaders and teachers. This study aims to investigate the influence of distributed leadership towards a professional learning community among the school leaders in Johor, Malaysia. This study uses quantitative approach and involves 27 secondary schools from six districts in Johor. Sample study is a school leader consisting of principal, senior assistant, senior teachers and head committee subjects. The respondent is a total of 358 people. Data collected using the Perception of Distributed Leadership Practices (PDLP) questionnaire by Hairon and Goh, (2015) and Professional Learning Communities Assessment-Revised (PLCA-R) by Olivier et al., (2010). Data was analyzed using SPSS Amos software version 26. Studies find all the common shared decision making have a significant influence on all the dimensions of professional learning communities. Bounded empowerment practices are found to influence only one of the dimensions of professional learning communities, namely learning and application collectively. It is hoped that this study would enhance the leadership practices of the distributive of the school leaders in the professional learning community.

scholarly journals CREATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHER PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY: INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 493
Author(s):  
Justinas Monkevicius ◽  
Renaldas Čiužas
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Organisational Culture ◽  
Institutional Factors ◽  
Teacher Professional Learning ◽  
Organisational Structure ◽  
Teacher Professional

The article presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of institutional factors of creation and development of successful teacher professional learning communities. On the basis of the conducted theoretical analysis, institutional factors were systemised and divided into four groups:factors related to organisational culture, to processes, to organisational structure, and factors related to financial and material resources.The empirical research reveals the relevance of theoretically distinguished factors to the practical processes of creation and development of successful teacher professional learning communities. It also singles out new factors that have not been investigated by other scholars and highlights the encountered barriers.

scholarly journals A case study of two teacher learning communities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Free-Queen Bongiwe Zulu ◽  
Tabitha Grace Mukeredzi
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
South African ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Education And Development ◽  
Teacher Learning Communities

In the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development, a South African policy, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the Department of Higher Education (DHET) call for the formation of professional learning communities and envisage support for teachers and access to enhanced professional development opportunities at the local level. However, the formation and operation of professional learning communities in a South African context is still unclear. In this article we use the concept of professional learning communities to examine the extent to which 2 teacher learning communities operate as professional learning communities. We used interviews, observations, survey questionnaires and document analysis to generate data. The findings of the study reveal that the 2 teacher learning communities were initiated by the DBE and not by teachers. However, the size of 1 teacher learning community and the nature of its functioning seemed to adhere to the characteristics of a professional learning community while the other did not. The findings indicate that professional learning communities that operate in developing contexts might be functional when all the stakeholders play a meaningful role in supporting professional learning communities.

scholarly journals On not researching school leadership: the contribution of S. J. Ball

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen M. Gunter
Keyword(s):  
School Leadership ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
The Political ◽  
Public Intellectuals ◽  
Critical Reading ◽  
Educational Professionals ◽  
Starting Point

Stephen Ball's research continues to make a contribution to describing, understanding and explaining the political, social, economic and cultural context in which educational professionals locate their practices. Therefore, Ball engages with issues about school leadership, but he does not set out to present solutions for school leaders. Based on critical reading and interview data, I show how by not researching school leadership he makes a robust and relevant analysis of school leadership for the profession. He makes a contribution to understanding the realities of doing and thinking about leaders doing leadership and exercising leadership, where his starting point is to work with the profession as public intellectuals.

Professional Learning Among School Leaders in Secondary Education: The Impact of Personal and Work Context Factors

2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth van Veelen ◽  
Peter J. C. Sleegers ◽  
Maaike D. Endedijk
Keyword(s):  
School Leadership ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
School Context ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Learning Climate ◽  
Career Awareness ◽  
Context Factors ◽  
Task Variation

Purpose: School leadership is fundamental in efforts to successfully implement school reform and improve student and teacher learning. Although there is an abundant amount of research on school leaders’ formal training, assessment, and practice, little is known about their informal professional learning. In other words, how do school leaders learn at the workplace? To answer this question, we took an interactionist approach and argued that school leadership learning is based on the interplay between the school environment and the person. Specifically, we investigated the effect of school context (learning climate, social support), task (task variation), and the personal factor self-efficacy on both individual (reflection and career awareness) and social (asking for feedback and challenging groupthink) learning activities. Method: A questionnaire was administered among 1,150 school leaders in Dutch secondary education. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed relationships between our model variables. Findings: Self-efficacy positively predicted all four learning activities. Task variation positively predicted asking for feedback and reflection. Learning climate positively predicted asking for feedback, reflection, and career awareness. Interestingly, the effect of social support was twofold: It positively predicted social learning, but it negatively predicted individual learning. Finally, self-efficacy was an important mediator in the relationship between school context and professional learning. Conclusions: This study demonstrates how personal, task, and school context factors affect school leaders’ professional learning. These insights help develop tools and conditions for leaders to reflect and discuss on their practice, and to set an example for lifelong learning in schools.

School culture and leadership of professional learning communities

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 682-694 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
School Culture ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
Professional Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Shared Leadership ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Policies And Procedures

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore supportive and shared leadership structures at schools as a function of school culture policies and procedures. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative study was conducted at three secondary schools in the Midwestern USA. Administrators and teachers were interviewed, professional learning communities observed and artifacts collected to explore school culture policies, procedures and leadership in the implementation of professional learning community practice. Findings – This study concludes that school leaders must provide supportive and shared leadership structures for teachers in order to ensure a positive school culture and effective professional learning communities that impact school improvement. Leaders in schools must work directly with teachers to create policies and procedures that provide teachers the leadership structure to directly impact school improvement through professional learning community collaborative efforts. Originality/value – This study builds on the school culture and professional learning communities literature by exploring existent policies and practices in schools as unique cases. Much of the literature calls for specific case studies to identify issues in the implementation of effective practice. This study is important to the community as specific cases that may inform educational leaders on mechanisms that may be leveraged to ensure successful implementation of policies and procedures outline in school culture and professional learning community literature.

Exploring the relationships among instructional leadership, professional learning communities and teacher self-efficacy in China

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 843-859 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Zheng ◽  
Hongbiao Yin ◽  
Zhanglin Li
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Leadership ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning Community ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Collaborative Activity ◽  
Reflective Dialogue ◽  
Teacher Self Efficacy

The study explored the relationships among instructional leadership, professional learning community components, and teacher self-efficacy in the context of mainland China. Study subjects were 1082 elementary school teachers participating in a questionnaire survey. The results showed that instructional leadership had significant effects on the five professional learning community components, four of which, collaborative activity, collective focus on student learning, de-privatized practice, and reflective dialogue, positively predicted teacher self-efficacy. Analysis showed that collaborative activity, de-privatized practice, and reflective dialogue significantly mediated the effects of instructional leadership on teacher self-efficacy. Implications for school leadership and teacher learning are discussed.

scholarly journals A Look into a Professional Learning Community

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 645
Author(s):  
Nazanin Dehdary
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
English Language ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Context Management ◽  
English Language Institute

Professional learning communities are not commonplace in Iran and this is evidenced by the scant literature in this regard.  The present study is an attempt to fill the gap in the literature. This study was conducted in the hope of evaluating a professional learning community within an English language institute in Iran to detect the threats to its survival from the viewpoints of some of the teachers and members of the board of studies. The analysis of the data uncovered three major strengths the current PLC enjoys. These plus points are the dynamic work context, management policy, and a nexus of focus communities. There is, however, a consensus among participants that in recent years many teachers have detached themselves from different communities within the institute. The analysis of the data revealed sense of belonging, teacher’s view of the profession, infrastructure and flawed dialogue as the major threats.

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