Professional Learning Communities

Effective professional learning communities

Professional learning communities (PLCs) are most effective when they are:

• collaborative, with members taking collective responsibility to address problems of practice and improve the learning and engagement of every student
• purposeful, with PLCs teams engaging in discussion, research, moderation, observation and feedback practices to determine the impact of their actions and improve their teaching practice
• data-based, with PLC teams engaging with evidence collected and analysed at the school, cohort, class, and individual student level to inform decision-making
• responsive, with PLC teams examining student engagement with and progress against the curriculum and making timely adjustments to meet the needs of their learners.

Prioritising and resourcing school improvement

For a culture of collaborative professionalism to be embedded in a school, continuous school improvement must be prioritised and resourced appropriately.

There are a number of actions that school leaders can take to achieve this, including:

• providing staff with accessible and digestible insights relating to whole-school or cohort data sets that align with school priorities, to inform the work of PLC teams
• developing processes and protocols to encourage an open classroom culture where best practice is visible
• providing leading teachers, learning specialists, and other knowledgeable staff with time release to support staff capability building
• supporting PLC teams to access knowledgeable others (internal or external to the school) who can help with developing curriculum interventions to support learners
• establishing mechanisms to analyse and evaluate the effectiveness of PLC activities and provide feedback.

Privileging PLC time

PLCs require time to engage meaningfully in data discussions, peer observations, moderation of student work samples, research, and reflection, in order to develop responsive teaching sequences. In addition, the analysis conducted within PLCs informs curriculum and lesson planning, therefore adequate time is required to do both effectively. School leaders can construct well-planned meeting schedules to strengthen the alignment between the PLC inquiry cycle and the practicalities of lesson preparation.

Sharing best practice through networks

PLC facilitators, through their leadership team, contribute to system-wide improvement in their geographic area through the sharing of effective practice and working collaboratively to solve common problems related to school improvement. Networks also provide schools with a pathway to access expertise to support their PLC teams. Contact your SEIL or EIL for further information on networks.