scholarly journals Leading Ladies:  Portraits of Principals:  The Leadership Styles and Practices of Women Secondary  School Principals Reflected within a Principal Professional  Learning Community

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Erika Helen Snedden
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Leadership Styles ◽  
Professional Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Secondary School Principals ◽  
Women Principals ◽  
School Contexts

<p>Recent New Zealand Ministry of Education documents highlight the challenge to provide professional learning opportunities for principals and the current initiative to support and strengthen school leadership through the Professional Leadership Strategy. There is a need for professional development strategies and opportunities that help principals more effectively understand their school contexts, responsibilities and their own competencies, leadership styles and practice. To transfer and be sustainable, effective leadership practice requires the building of principal leadership learning communities within individual New Zealand school contexts. This thesis builds on previous studies of New Zealand women principals' experiences of leadership, contributing to a greater insight into the identities, role and practice of women principals while modelling a framework for reflective practice as a tool for professional and educational leadership development. As an iconographic study of three New Zealand women secondary school principals this thesis exhibits the life stories and experiences which have impacted upon their personal theories about leadership styles and practice. Composed through a métissage (merging) of image and dialogue to create portraits of the principal's leadership identities it is set in situ within a principal professional learning community. A qualitative, multiple-case studies methodology was employed. The design was informed by a reflective practitioner approach and action learning orientation underpinned by arts-based inquiry, a methodological and theoretical genre that proposes a reinterpretation of the methods and ethics of human social research. The findings indicate that the personal development, self-awareness and growth of a leader are a catalyst to stimulate collective development and accomplishment.</p>

scholarly journals Leading Ladies:  Portraits of Principals:  The Leadership Styles and Practices of Women Secondary  School Principals Reflected within a Principal Professional  Learning Community

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Erika Helen Snedden
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Leadership Styles ◽  
Professional Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Secondary School Principals ◽  
Women Principals ◽  
School Contexts

<p>Recent New Zealand Ministry of Education documents highlight the challenge to provide professional learning opportunities for principals and the current initiative to support and strengthen school leadership through the Professional Leadership Strategy. There is a need for professional development strategies and opportunities that help principals more effectively understand their school contexts, responsibilities and their own competencies, leadership styles and practice. To transfer and be sustainable, effective leadership practice requires the building of principal leadership learning communities within individual New Zealand school contexts. This thesis builds on previous studies of New Zealand women principals' experiences of leadership, contributing to a greater insight into the identities, role and practice of women principals while modelling a framework for reflective practice as a tool for professional and educational leadership development. As an iconographic study of three New Zealand women secondary school principals this thesis exhibits the life stories and experiences which have impacted upon their personal theories about leadership styles and practice. Composed through a métissage (merging) of image and dialogue to create portraits of the principal's leadership identities it is set in situ within a principal professional learning community. A qualitative, multiple-case studies methodology was employed. The design was informed by a reflective practitioner approach and action learning orientation underpinned by arts-based inquiry, a methodological and theoretical genre that proposes a reinterpretation of the methods and ethics of human social research. The findings indicate that the personal development, self-awareness and growth of a leader are a catalyst to stimulate collective development and accomplishment.</p>

scholarly journals Unveiling the Practices and Challenges of Professional Learning Community in a Malaysian Chinese Secondary School

SAGE Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 215824402092551
Author(s):  
Wei Chuan Chua ◽  
Lei Mee Thien ◽  
Shun Yi Lim ◽  
Chee Seng Tan ◽  
Teik Ee Guan
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Northern Region ◽  
School Level ◽  
Malaysian Chinese ◽  
Middle Leaders

Professional learning community (PLC) studies in the Asian Chinese nations remain scarce despite the emerging interest in the practice of PLC beyond the Western context. This study attempts to provide an understanding of the practices of PLC and challenges in implementing PLC in a Malaysian Chinese culture–dominated secondary school. This qualitative study used a phenomenological constructivist approach as a strategy of inquiry. Semi-structured interview data were collected from six middle leaders and ordinary teachers in a national-type Chinese secondary school in the northern region. Findings informed three existing PLC practices at the school level, namely, (a) peer coaching, (b) sharing of personal practices, and (c) professional development courses. However, the practice of PLC encounters various challenges, including excessive workload, teachers’ passive attitudes, unsupportive conditions in the school, poor execution of PLC by the school community, and a vague understanding of PLC. Interestingly, this study identified two uncovered challenges hindering the development of PLC: misconception about PLC and lack of supervision from the authority. Implications and future studies are presented.

scholarly journals What Counts in the Development of Teachers' Learning Conversations?: a Case Study of a Group of New Zealand Educators Working Together to Improve Learning Outcomes for Students in Year 9 Classes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jeannette Grundy
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
School Context ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
Learning Conversations ◽  
Underachieving Students

<p>This research was undertaken in a New Zealand secondary school. Using case study methodology, it examines teachers' learning conversations as they work together in a group to improve outcomes for underachieving students in Year 9 classes. Participants include four teachers from different departments working collaboratively in a team teaching project, a member of the school's senior management team and an external facilitator. My role is as researcher, initially interviewing participants and observing meetings where they examine data and reflect on classroom practices. My analysis of research data finds that learning conversations are complex. Multiple interdependent factors are at play in teachers' professional discussions. Three interrelated threads - beliefs, relationships and structures - provide the framework for the analysis and are examined in detail. I use a weaving metaphor to explain their interaction and to describe the development and outcomes of the teachers' learning conversations. As the groups' work evolves and the threads are woven together, two aspects are recognised in the cloth. Firstly, contradictions arise and these reveal the two sidedness of the fabric of learning conversations. One side represents the ideal as described in current research literature, and expressed in the voices of educational leaders and in the hopes and dreams of participants in this study. The other side represents the reality of such conversations in practice. Secondly, the research describes an emerging learning community embarking on a new project. The fabric of its learning conversations is at times weak and fragile; threads tangle and fray, the texture is loose and lumpy. Previous structures have to be dismantled and old practices unravelled before new approaches can take hold. Developing learning conversations is found to be a complicated and complex process. Finally, consideration is given to implications for researchers, educators and policy makers if planning to implement and support learning conversations is to be effective. Challenges for researchers include: building knowledge of the secondary school context, particularly factors which support learning for disadvantaged and underachieving students at junior levels; continuing the investigation of the nature of teachers' work in the new professional learning environment that is developing in New Zealand and internationally - and supporting teacher research into that development; and further examination of the factors that contribute to contradictions in teachers learning conversations so that practitioners can be more aware of them and develop interventions that are more likely to realise the potential that learning conversations promise.  Recommendations for educators and policymakers focus on strengthening the threads that build the framework of teachers' learning conversations: beliefs, relationships and structural and systemic factors so that professional learning conversations can be implemented effectively.</p>

scholarly journals Leadership change design: a professional learning community (PLC) project in eastern Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teddy Trilaksono ◽  
Ambara Purusottama ◽  
Ifa Hanifah Misbach ◽  
Irfan Hary Prasetya
Keyword(s):  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
School Principals ◽  
School Principal ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Change Model ◽  
Leadership Change ◽  
Eastern Indonesia ◽  
Action Research Approach

<span>A professional learning community (PLC) is a long-term sustainable program that can replace professional development (PD) to enable teachers to become teacher leaders and school principals to become instructional leaders. Using a case study from the establishment of the PLC project in 10 schools of Eastern Indonesia (Saparua island, Maluku), this research develops a progressive leadership change model through an ADDIE instructional design that changes school leadership. The research aims to investigate how to identify the most effective leadership change model by exploring differrent forms of learning communities between school principals and teachers. Using an action research approach to solve the problem, the data were collected over a 10-month period when the PLC project activities took place and embedded them as empirical materials that complement each other. The findings show that the leadership change design through PLC runs effectively if value alignment occurs between school principals and teachers after the open environment is established. The data also highlight that aligned values must be embedded as school identities, whereas a school principal must act as a change leader in order to ensure that these changes are sustainable. This study concludes by proposing policy recommendations for policy makers and education stakeholders on how to develop PD and PLC in <br /> Indonesian schools.</span>

scholarly journals Networked Professional Learning Communities as Means to Flemish Secondary School Leaders’ Professional Learning and Well-Being

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 509
Author(s):  
Laurien Coenen ◽  
Wouter Schelfhout ◽  
Annie Hondeghem
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning Communities ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Research Evidence ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Secondary School Principals ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Phased Development

Whereas Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are a frequently applied professional learning tool in education, their use is often limited to an application among (a) teachers and (b) within-schools. This article contributes to the nascent research evidence on PLC usage for principal professional learning. As outcomes align with PLCs’ phased development, this article grasps the learning processes that unfold, the catalyst states that emerge and the overarching role that a process coach can adopt in this collective learning effort. Three distinct PLCs comprising of Flemish secondary school principals were systematically observed over the course of one to two years. In interviews and questionnaires, members (n = 14) reported on their experience with PLC activities, group dynamics and their personal professional well-being. Networked learning proved a worthwhile method as positive outcomes of PLC participation were predominantly found in a perceived augmentation of professional well-being and the acquisition of inspiration and ideas. Actual co-construction among principal participants appeared harder to establish as several organisational, group developmental and leadership prerequisites were found to apply. As this study was based on three in-depth case studies, it remains to be confirmed whether its conclusions apply to all school principals in Flanders and can be generalised to their counterparts internationally.

scholarly journals What Counts in the Development of Teachers' Learning Conversations?: a Case Study of a Group of New Zealand Educators Working Together to Improve Learning Outcomes for Students in Year 9 Classes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jeannette Grundy
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
School Context ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
Learning Conversations ◽  
Underachieving Students

<p>This research was undertaken in a New Zealand secondary school. Using case study methodology, it examines teachers' learning conversations as they work together in a group to improve outcomes for underachieving students in Year 9 classes. Participants include four teachers from different departments working collaboratively in a team teaching project, a member of the school's senior management team and an external facilitator. My role is as researcher, initially interviewing participants and observing meetings where they examine data and reflect on classroom practices. My analysis of research data finds that learning conversations are complex. Multiple interdependent factors are at play in teachers' professional discussions. Three interrelated threads - beliefs, relationships and structures - provide the framework for the analysis and are examined in detail. I use a weaving metaphor to explain their interaction and to describe the development and outcomes of the teachers' learning conversations. As the groups' work evolves and the threads are woven together, two aspects are recognised in the cloth. Firstly, contradictions arise and these reveal the two sidedness of the fabric of learning conversations. One side represents the ideal as described in current research literature, and expressed in the voices of educational leaders and in the hopes and dreams of participants in this study. The other side represents the reality of such conversations in practice. Secondly, the research describes an emerging learning community embarking on a new project. The fabric of its learning conversations is at times weak and fragile; threads tangle and fray, the texture is loose and lumpy. Previous structures have to be dismantled and old practices unravelled before new approaches can take hold. Developing learning conversations is found to be a complicated and complex process. Finally, consideration is given to implications for researchers, educators and policy makers if planning to implement and support learning conversations is to be effective. Challenges for researchers include: building knowledge of the secondary school context, particularly factors which support learning for disadvantaged and underachieving students at junior levels; continuing the investigation of the nature of teachers' work in the new professional learning environment that is developing in New Zealand and internationally - and supporting teacher research into that development; and further examination of the factors that contribute to contradictions in teachers learning conversations so that practitioners can be more aware of them and develop interventions that are more likely to realise the potential that learning conversations promise.  Recommendations for educators and policymakers focus on strengthening the threads that build the framework of teachers' learning conversations: beliefs, relationships and structural and systemic factors so that professional learning conversations can be implemented effectively.</p>

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