Maintaining a Professional Learning Community

A school community is a group of people working together under common rules with a particular aim and therefore a school community should involve all the teaching staff, students and parents. Sergiovanni (1994, p. xiii) defines a community as “the tie that binds students and teachers together in special ways” because it improves their “self-understanding, commitment and performance”. Moreover, in a community, a united ‘we’ stands instead of many ‘I’s’ as Sergiovanni (1994) asserts. Hence, as suggested by Roberts and Pruitt (2009, p. 25), a shift from schools as “bureaucracies” towards schools as communities with a particular sense of belonging is necessary.

Sergiovanni (1994, p. 71) argues that in a Professional Learning Community (PLC), all individuals commit “altruistic love” to each other where positive relationships will be “clearly Gemeinschaft6_{”. Positive relationships help to build} a community where its members listen to each other’s concerns, are there to help each and every individual; and gather together to lay foundations and implement school policies and the mission statement. The importance of a sense of community is also emphasised by Tschannen-Moran (2013, p. 2) who argues that it was a “strong sense of community” that held things together in the school he led in Chicago. Similarly, Harris and Chapman (2002) found that a sense of community through a climate of collaboration existed in the schools in their study where there was a commitment to working together. The need for a community is universal, and this sense of community is much needed in schools where “being connected to others” (Sergiovanni 1994, p. xii) creates a feeling of belonging that enriches our life.

6 _{Gemeinschaft is a German word that translates to community. Sergiovanni’s (1994) Theory of}

Community Building presents educators with the challenge to build Gemeinschaft through a common goal and shared values.

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2.5.2.1 Communities that are Learning.

PLCs can be considered to be healthy if those communities are learning (Gelsthorpe and West Burnham, 2003, p. 11), and ‘a good school’ has been defined by Barth (1990, p. 513) as the school where “everyone is teaching, and everyone is learning”. Ensuring that the community is learning is one of the main challenges that the job of the school leader entails (Day and Sammons, 2016). In PLCs individuals commit to professional development (Sergiovanni, 1994) where teachers and students can enhance their understanding and strive for excellence. This means that teachers help students academically and holistically and help other teachers and colleagues by holding discussions, formal and informal and providing feedback to each other. Having “a community of learners” (Barth, 1990, p. 513) who listen to each other, understand and do not judge others whilst helping in various activities and events, creates a sense of professionalism in the community. This helps the staff to unite as one and share values and ideas whilst supporting each other’s activities, such as happened in Chicago where, in order to improve schools, school leaders ensured that there were regular opportunities for reflection and dialogues between teachers (Sebring and Bryk, 2000) enabling teachers to learn from each other by observing one another and sharing their work.

When colleagues share ideas and values, a “bond of fellowship emerges that provides a moral climate that empowers the membership as a whole” (Sergiovanni, 2009, p. 114). DuFour and Eaker (1998, p. 25) assert that a “collective inquiry” is the backbone of development and progress in a PLC which can offer support and motivation to its teachers who will be able to draw on the help of their colleagues to handle obstacles (Kruse et al., 1995). Eliminating “barriers” in the community can enhance collaboration (Beyerlein, 2003), thereby bringing about a harmonious environment in which staff are more motivated to work for the benefits of the community, especially the students. Harris and Chapman (2002) reported that through a PLC, teacher morale was raised whilst Kruse et al. (1995) found out that teachers felt more effective in their jobs.

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As well as investing in positive relationships, Kruse et al. (1995, p. 4) consider time and resources to be some of the “critical elements” to ensure and establish PLCs in schools. They propose that school leaders should: provide time for reflective dialogue; encourage physical proximity to ensure teachers discuss, collaborate and work together; ensure teacher empowerment and autonomy so that teachers take risks and decisions in order to prepare and cover with students what they have confidence in and seems worth it for students to learn; creating communication structures, create workshop and other opportunities for all members of staff to learn new knowledge whilst supporting, trusting and respecting all members of the school community. Roberts and Pruitt (2009) also affirm that educators need to have the necessary support of school leaders in terms of resources, time, and motivation amongst other important factors that help them to promote mutual collaboration.

Talking about relationships and team building in staff meetings and Professional Development Sessions (PDSs) is a necessity, as Perron (2013, p. 25) states “relationships matter but dialogue, discussion or a study session regarding relationships is not set up or done”. However, contrary to Perron’s affirmation (2013), Crippen (2012) describes a PDS where staff were grouped in pairs and spent an hour discussing questions to really get to know one another, showing that PDSs can be used intelligently to discuss relationships amongst the staff. Chapman and Harris (2004, p. 223) also argue that staff development has a major influence in school improvements and so successful schools “have policies in place that support staff professional development”. Recently, “professional development is evolving into something new and inspiring” (Starkey, 2012, p. 11) with terms such as “connected learning, collective inquiry, mentoring, lifelong, reflective and practice” (Starkey, 2012, p. 11) have emerged.

2.5.2.2 Communities for Success.

Henrik Ibsen (n.d.) wrote that “a community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm”. In PLCs, leadership is distributed as both teachers and students perceive themselves as a community of “learners and leaders”, instead of

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“participants in the traditional leader-follower roles” (Roberts and Pruitt, 2009, p. 25). Teachers and students are all important as everyone is responsible for particular duties; even a student in charge of a really small task is given the opportunity to learn even if s/he does not succeed immediately. Interestingly, teachers and students assuming responsibility does not only mean that some teachers will assume posts of ‘Head of Departments’ or ‘Head of Years’ or a minimum number of students will be involved in the students’ council but as Barth (1990, p. 515) argues, schools should ensure that “everyone becomes a school leader in some ways and at some times”. McNeely (2003, p. 3) insists that “when students develop a positive social bond with their school, they are more likely to remain academically engaged and less likely to become involved in antisocial behaviours”. Therefore, students should be given small leadership tasks so that they feel part of the school community whilst also setting some of their own goals, building leadership potential and skills and sharing the skills learnt and achieved throughout the scholastic years. Student-led seminars and conferences for parents can help students to achieve more as they share their knowledge with “the people who matter most to them” (Champeau, 2011, p. 40) who will be invited to school.

Green (2002, p. 4) suggested that creating a successful learning community is a key issue for school effectiveness; in fact it is argued that “good schools would be shining examples of learning communities”. Through PLCs, schools have been shown to achieve success because, in communities, teachers worked together through finding ways of improvement after regular evaluations and thus kept students in the centre of their profession (Green, 2002). Effective leaders set high targets and thus what is worth fighting for in schools is “interactive professionalism” within the school community (Fullan, 1998, p. 39). This means that school leaders and teachers that work together as a community become more committed and take necessary risks in order to achieve the targets set whilst being better equipped through professional development, which result in more outcomes to produce successful schools. As Chapman and Harris (2003, p. 3) demonstrate, regular celebrations of students’ successes such as presentations of certificates and rewards and praising students can lead to a motivation to improve

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in academic achievement. Kruse et al. (1995, p. 2) also conclude that, in schools, where PLCs are strong, teachers work more together in an effective manner resulting in “creating and sustaining opportunities for student learning”.

2.5.2.3 Links via the Communities.

Through positive relationships in schools and PLCs, links with local agencies and organisations can yield to more opportunities for the school community, such as exposure for students in different sectors, job shadowing training with different companies, voluntary work, and many more experiences that can enrich the students to reflect and develop holistically. Celebrating all achievements of students will help to boost the PLCs because, “all actions or outcomes that promote the values of the learning community are reasons to celebrate” (Roberts and Pruitt, 2009, p. 221). Further, activities such as the “mentoring program, after-school activities, leadership opportunities for students, English classes for parents, a parent centre, and student recognitions” (Perron, 2013) have all been found essential to maintain a community. Day and Sammons (2016, p. 28) suggest that building relationships outside the school community is also essential to achieve long-term success, and Chapman and Harris (2003, p. 3) also acknowledge that educational leaders are often ‘entrepreneurial ambassadors’ because they work with various agencies and councils for the benefit of the school community whilst also making the best of every opportunity to raise the school’s profile and build stronger rapport.