This paper investigates how teachers' professional agency afforded and constrained their decisions to participate in or withdraw from professional learning communities (PLCs). While PLCs are often thought to position teachers as agents, explicit links between teacher agency and key features of PLCs have not been explored. Data from interviews with…

Professional learning communities can be important sites for teacher learning depending on the quality of the conversations in these communities. This paper investigates how different activities in teacher communities support different content and depth in teacher conversations, through examining the conversations of four professional learning…

Studies have documented numerous positive effects of mentoring, but few studies have focused on mentor education and mentors' professional development and learning. In Norway, the focus on mentoring and mentor education has been visible in political documents and teacher education for several years. However, the scale of mentor education has been…

This study tested a moderated-mediation model of the processes linking principal ethical leadership and professional learning communities in China, in which teacher obligation is included as a mediator, and teacher participation in school decision making is considered as a moderator. The results from 3374 teachers revealed significant direct and…

What is the status of professional learning communities in Vietnam and Uganda? Is there a significant difference between the teaching experience of secondary teachers and how they see the relevance of professional learning communities on professional development in Vietnam and Uganda? The aforementioned questions were explored by collecting data…

Teacher professional learning is considered crucial for improving the quality of education. Teacher collaboration in professional learning communities can contribute to the effectiveness of professional development efforts. In the past decade, there has been a shift from within-school to between-school professional learning communities. However,…

This study investigated the relationships between professional learning communities (PLCs), teacher self-efficacy, and experiential learning. A conceptual model that connects PLC components, including shared vision, interactive reflection, and collegiality, to teacher self-efficacy was proposed, as mediated by experiential learning. The data…

The purposes of the study were to investigate the effects of a professional learning community (PLC) on Thai demonstration school students' grade point averages and to study and to study students' satisfaction with the professional learning community to improve their grade point averages. The participants were 107 students in a demonstration…

This paper explores professional learning as teachers engage in action research to improve their practices. Despite many contributions on professional learning communities and their effects on school improvement, there is less research on how they are developed and how teachers learn collectively. Using a social theory of learning, three…

Purpose: In professional learning communities (PLCs), teachers collaborate and learn with the aim of improving students' learning. The aim of this study is to gain insight into teachers' perceptions of their schools' changing toward PLCs and conditions which support or hamper this change. Design/methodology/approach: Questionnaires were completed…

This paper examines the influence of professional learning communities (PLCs) on informal teacher leadership in Hong Kong schools to overcome issues reported in the literature on the challenges to teacher leadership posed by Chinese hierarchical school contexts. We test the relations among PLC, informal teacher leadership, teacher focus on…

This study investigates teachers' perceptions on PLC implementation within religious-based secondary schools in the context of Malaysia. Using a pragmatic mixed-method approach, quantitative data were obtained from 610 teachers about principals' implementation and support for PLC implementation. Then, 16 senior teachers who have successfully…

The effectiveness of professional learning communities (PLCs) in schools depends significantly on the extent of fostering teacher learning. In this explanatory case study, 16 female teachers from a girls' high school in Saudi Arabia joined a reflective practice programme where they engaged in collaborative inquiry to solve a problem in their work.…

Schools in India typically provide teachers with professional development in the form of workshops with a one-size-fits-all approach. However, a large body of international studies show this to be ineffective in transforming classroom practice, and the draft National Education Policy of India released in 2020 lists several shortcomings of current…

Purpose: This paper explores education group school principal's influence on professional learning community (PLC) development in China. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative comparative case studies were conducted. Findings: The findings show that principals indicated principal-level factors were their major concerns regarding PLC cultural…