ERIC Number: EJ1096538
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0218-8791
EISSN: N/A
Factors That Develop Effective Professional Learning Communities in Taiwan
Chen, Peiying; Lee, Che-Di; Lin, Hongda; Zhang, Chun-Xi
Asia Pacific Journal of Education, v36 n2 p248-265 2016
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.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Communities of Practice, Faculty Development, High Schools, Questionnaires, Secondary School Teachers, Likert Scales, Structural Equation Models, Collegiality, Trust (Psychology), Participative Decision Making, Teacher Attitudes
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Taiwan
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A