Purpose: Whilst professional learning communities (PLCs) have been widely explored at the school level, they have received less attention at the departmental level. The study takes the variance between departments and the role of departmental teacher leaders into consideration, and the relationships amongst departmental-level PLC dimensions, two…

This study explored the effects of professional learning communities (PLCs) on teachers' self-efficacy and job satisfaction in Shanghai, China. Nine hundred and eighty-two school teachers participated in a survey. The results showed that PLCs in Shanghai China were characterised by both the teacher-centric and organisation-centric components. Two…

Online discourse is widely used in diverse contexts of learning and professional training, but superficial interactions and digression often occur. In the face of these problems and the large-scale unstructured text data, the traditional way of learning analytics has been challenged in terms of providing timely intervention and feedback. In this…

Previous studies have indicated that teacher well-being (TWB) should have substantial benefits for both individuals and organisations. This study explored the relationship between the professional learning community (PLC) and TWB from the perspective of the job demands-resources (JD-R) model. Informed by self-efficacy theory, the present study…

This study aims at exploring the influence of The "Alliance of Thinking Schools," a multi-regional, researcher-practitioner partnered teachers' "professional learning community" (PLC) on the teaching of thinking in China, on bridging teachers' "belief-action gap." Specifically, this study aims to investigate the…

This study examined the relationships between school-level professional learning communities (PLCs) and individual teachers' self-efficacy and commitment based on questionnaire responses from 1,203 teachers from 39 primary schools in mainland China. Multilevel analysis indicated that reflective dialogue significantly predicted 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…

This qualitative case study examines the perspectives and experiences of seven Chinese primary teachers on the integration of shared knowledge artefacts into teaching in professional learning communities. The analysis of the semi-structured interviews and observation data revealed that using knowledge artefacts, such as preview sheets, flowing…

The building of professional learning communities has been widely recognized as an effective strategy for schools wanting to improve student performance and enhance teachers' professional capacity. This study explored the relationship between leadership practices and professional learning communities, with a particular focus on the mediating role…

In the last decade, there has been growing interest in professional learning communities (PLCs) outside mainstream Western contexts. In this paper, we provide a narrative synthesis of empirical studies of PLCs in kindergarten to 12th grade educational systems in mainland China published between 2006 and 2015. The review reveals five major emerging…

This quantitative study investigated and compared the development of professional learning communities in schools located in two Chinese cities, namely, Shanghai and Mianyang. The two cities have significant differences in terms of educational, economic, social, and cultural development. While Shanghai is a directly controlled municipality in East…

The key to instructional improvement lies in teacher learning, and teachers' professional learning is best achieved in a professional community. This study compares teachers' communal learning activities in rural and urban schools in China with the aim of illustrating the influence of the professional learning community (PLC) on teachers'…

This paper extends the theorization of identity grafting (Lee 2017), developed to understand individual cultural identity processes that buttress repression, born-again, integrated, and situational strategies to reconcile identity tensions that arise from change in a Chinese context. A qualitative case study approach is employed to examine two…

With the rapid development of technologies and the gradually increasing requirements of technology integration into teaching, teachers have been facing stress to keep pace with new technologies and to design pedagogical usage of technologies. Although prior studies have examined the creators and negative impacts of technostress, insights into the…

Teacher professional learning communities provide environments in which teachers engage in regular research and collaboration. They have been found effective as a means for connecting professional learning to the day-to-day realities faced by teachers in the classroom. In this article, the authors draw on survey data collected in primary schools…