AUDIT REPORT ON PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES
BY: BASHIR AHMED KHAN (PDT)
INTRODUCTION
21st 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
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
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
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
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.
REFERENCES
Argyris, C. & Schon, D. (1978). Organizational learning theory of action perspective:
Australian National
Training Authority. (2002). Learning
communities national project (2001).
Brown, J. S., &
Duguid, P. (2000). The social life of
information. Boston
press.
Department for
education and skills. (n.d.). The impact
of parental involvement on children’s
education. UK
06614F4FEB1D/14910/TheImpactofParentalInvolvementon365kb.pdf
MacNeil, A. &
Maclin, V. (2005). Building a Learning
Community: The Culture and Climate of
Schools. Retrieved on December 16,
2009, from http://cnx.org/content/m12922/latest
Retallick, J., & Datoo, A. (2005).
Transforming schools into learning communities: focus on
community (pp. 1-25). New York :
Oxford University
Senge, P. (1990). The
fifth discipline. Sydney
Shaw, P. (Eds.). (1999). Purpose and process in effective learning communities: Learning communities in education.
Silins, H., Zarins,
H., & Mulford, B. (2002). What characteristics and processes define a
school as a
learning organization? Is this a useful concept to apply to
schools? International Education Journal,
3(1), pg. 24
Stoll, L., Bolam, R.,
McMahon, A., Thomas, S., Wallace, M., Greenwood
Professional Learning Communities: Source material
for school leader and other leaders of
professional learning. National college
for school leadership: England
Taylor, R. T. (2002).
Shaping the culture of learning communities. Principal leadership, 3(4), 42-45
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