AUDIT REPORT ON PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES

BY: BASHIR AHMED KHAN (PDT)

INTRODUCTION

21^st century is the era of technological advancement and global interaction among nations. This advancement and interaction made education more demanding to meet set targets and goals of nations. To meet these targets, schools require continuous reforms and especially schools in Pakistan required hard-slog. Educationists claim that one way for schools reform is to transform schools into learning communities (Retallick & Datoo, 2005). In this regard, some private schools have made some serious efforts to transform themselves into a learning community.

The purpose of this paper is to perform an audit of a school to see how far the school can be seen or not seen as a ‘learning community’, and also make recommendation for turning the school into a learning community.

LITERATURE REVIEW

The notion of learning community was first time introduced to education by Sergiovanni in nineties (Retallick & Datoo, 2005). According to the Australian National Training Authority audit report (1999) “Professional learning community (PLC) is a group of people, whether linked by geography or by some other shared interest, that address the learning needs of its members through proactive partnerships; it explicitly uses learning as a way of promoting social cohesion.” Further the following characteristics of PLC were discussed in different literature;

The first characteristic of PLC is shared vision. Staff is encouraged not only to be involved in the process of developing a shared vision but to use that vision as a guidepost in making decisions about everything going on in school. Shared vision is a picture of what we want to create collectively in an organization to achieve a common goal (Senge, 1990).

Once there will be a shared vision, the individuals establish common ground that is needed in the development of trust and relationship (Shaw, 1999). Therefore learning by seeking answers to questions, collaboratively researching new ideas, discovering new methods, and testing and evaluating them are what drive individuals in functioning learning communities.

People are able to affect one another and the group as whole directly. Changes can propagate easily. Ideas and knowledge may be distributed across the group, not held individually. These groups allow for highly productive and creative work to develop collaboratively (Brown & Duguid, 2000, p.143).

Such a climate of openness that promotes sharing of knowledge, dialogue, inquiry and risk taking, and gives constructive feedback to people at all level (Taylor, 2002). PLC provides opportunity to all stakeholders to reflect not only about their practice but also about how they think, their implicit theories and the sense they make of their experiences (Argyris & Schon, 1978).

            One of the key characteristics of PLC is the existence of networks and interrelationships inside and outside the school gives people a context for exchanging information and discovering new ideas (Shaw, 1999).

The PLC values all stakeholders’ contribution. The ideas of staff, parents, students, governor or school council members are welcome and encouraged in the PLC (Stoll et al., 2006).

Based on the aforementioned characteristics of PLC we analyzed our data to explore the notion of school as a PLC.

SCHOOL CONTEXT

The school we visited was a private secondary school in Karachi. It has three sections i.e. Early childhood development (ECD), junior and senior. We visited senior section there were 860 students and 40 staff from class 8^th to 10^th. Principal of the school was responsible for the whole school administration and management however; headteacher and academic coordinator look at the routine works. School was equipped with furniture, and modern educational resources.

METHODOLOGY

The school is visited thrice, in group of four course participants (CPs). With formal consent of the Principal, we gathered data from headteacher, academic coordinator, teachers, students, displayed artifacts, general observation of the school and classroom. For collecting relevant information we developed framework for data collection, visit plans, checklists, interview questionnaire, observation sheet and a consent form (see annexure for details). Consent form is duly signed by every targeted respondent. Each respondent is assured that the data will be used only for our report purpose.

DATA ANALYSIS

Through exploratory responses from respondents, analyses of documents and observation of events we collected data on Stoll et al. (2006) proposed characteristics of PLC. Data collected from each sources were discussed and compiled in group as per characteristics of PLC.

Shared Vision and Values

The school is a part of a private organization and has many schools in different parts of Pakistan. The school has explicit shared vision and values which is developed at organization level involving some representatives from students, teachers and management of this school. It says that this school is ‘a dynamic learning organization achieving excellence’ based on shared values including ‘respect, passion, creativity, rigor, integrity and fairness’. We found that mostly the stakeholders are well familiar with this notion and it is displayed all over in the school. The activities were designed according to the school vision and values.

Collective Responsibility for Pupil Learning

The school management committee (SMC) comprises of principal, three headteachers, three academic coordinators, and support coordinator having set roles and responsibilities. Along with SMC, teaching staffs are also responsible for students’ learning with their assigned roles as class-teacher, house in-charge and different committee members. Students were also assigned task and involved in school discipline committee and class representation. Parents occasionally visited school and take and give feedback on their children learning and behavioral issues. This shows that the school shares collective responsibilities for students learning.

Collaboration Focused on Learning

Our data shows that teachers meet twice a month on alternative Saturdays to discuss students’ progress and academic related activities including lesson planning and resource development. However due to cultural norms, they have separate staff rooms for male and female which might hinder the notion of collaborative learning. Parent-teacher meetings are schedule thrice a year where students’ progress is shared with parents. SMC meets teaching staff on ongoing and need basis to discuss the whole school progress and issues. SMC is also responsible for school development plan (SDP). Activities like project works are part of lesson plans in order to promote collaborative learning among students.

Group as well as Professional Learning

It was observed that schools arranged training programs for their teachers’ professional growth. The system also provides opportunities for teachers to attend seminar, workshops, refresher courses, short training and full professional training program. The school also arranges career counseling session for students. According to staff members these sessions are helpful for them as well as for students learning.

Reflective Professional Inquiry

Writing reflection is not a regular practice. However teachers attending any training session or workshops shared their reflection with headteacher and other colleagues. Further more in general staff meetings, students’ overall achievements, review of school activities were also discussed. These types of reflective practices open the door of further improvement and development.

Openness, Network and Partnership

The school has linkages within the organization. It has linkages with other schools related to co-curricular activities. These sorts of linkages provide school an opportunity to share their experiences with the other organization and vice versa.  

Inclusive Membership

The headteacher said that “the system is like jigsaw puzzle, if one piece is missed the whole picture will be incomplete”. This shows that they are much sensitize about the inclusion of stakeholder including supportive staff and others. We found that teachers, students and parents’ voice are appreciated. They include their feedbacks in school development plan and curriculum.

Mutual Trust, Respect & Support

It has been reflected that teachers work collaboratively with each other, responsibility is shared among teachers, students and other staff members. This gives sense that the principal and headteacher has mutual trust, respect and support for all of them. This strong notion which we find in the school was on ‘ethical values’ and it practice. This is the most concerning issues of the school which it aims to address.

RECOMMENDATION

Each school has its own geographical and cultural background which has impacts on school’s aims. According to Greenfield as cited in MacNeil & Maclin (2005) that ‘what many people seem to want from school is that school reflect the values that are central and meaningful in their lives’ and if this is the case then the ‘schools are cultural artifacts that people struggle to shape their own image’. Therefore we suggest that the school may have its own aims and objectives that reflect the voice of all its stakeholders and has its own identity within that broader organization vision context.

Parental role is much limited to students discipline issues and achievements. Parental involvement on academic side was inadequate and parents are not part of any committee. A study conducted by Feinstein & Symons as cited in report of Department for Education and Skills (n.d.) found that parental involvement has significant impact on adolescence achievement. Further it is suggested to increase the parental involvement in school for example many parents are professionals in different fields, so they can facilitate career counseling session for students in the school.

The school development plan (SDP) is developed by SMC in which parents, and students representation is missing. It is suggested to involve each stakeholder for inclusive membership in order to develop holistic environment of learning community.

CONCLUSION

After collecting and analyzing data, it is concluded that shared vision, collaborative learning environment, and professional development for teachers plays a vital role in school development and improvement which leads school towards the professional learning community.

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