Premier's Minter Ellison Educational Leadership
Scholarship
Professional Learning Communities –
professional collaboration to
enhance student learning and
effective teaching practice
Kelly Dunn
Forbes North Public School
Sponsored by
‘The most promising strategy for sustained, substantive school improvement is
developing the ability of school personnel to function as professional learning
communities’ (DuFour, Eaker pxi 1998).
At the end of each year, schools are faced with the task of arranging students into classes
for the following year. Do we put them into streamed classes; give the better students the
opportunity to succeed? Do we make homogeneous classes and hope that the teacher is
strong enough to guide the slower learners as well as extend the more advanced learners?
What do we do with the students who have made no significant improvement over the
course of the past year? This picture of a ‘traditional’ school exists all over the world and
has done for many years. Fortunately for the benefit of the education of young minds, a
shift is occurring, where schools are becoming a cohesive unit, focused on the outcomes
of individual students.
Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are providing schools with detailed
information about student achievement and the capacity to monitor learning in order to
initiate more effective creation and delivery of content applicable to the various stages
within the NSW Department of Education and Training (DET).
In Belleville, Ontario, Canada, four like minded administrators were inspired to achieve
better results for their respective schools after attending a workshop delivered by Michael
Fullan. Their mission statement was simple: The fundamental purpose of schools is
learning. The kind of schools we hope to become are ones where the primary emphasis is
on learning. In order to create the kind of schools we hope to become we must commit
to working in collaborative teams whose members work interdependently to achieve
common goals.
After several sessions together, the following goals were decided upon  Ensure that students learn
 Create a culture of collaboration
 Rely on and respond to results
They saw as their stumbling blocks the obvious obstacles, such as time and money.
However they also had the experience to recognise that their staff would not all be eager
to participate in a new project that took a great deal of work and time and was seen as
‘another thing to do’ on top of an already crowded curriculum. The administrator of
Susanna Moodie Elementary is quoted as saying, ‘In the beginning, it took passion,
patience and persistence’. The three ‘Ps’: a definite requirement for all undertakings that
are going to be of substantial benefit for a wide ranging group of people.
After working together to develop their management plan and align this with their
respective school’s improvement plans and other Ministry documents, the administrators
took the idea to individual staff meetings and together they brainstormed what skills in
reading and writing every student should have by the time he/she graduated from
elementary school. This was the beginning of the ‘Essential Eight’. The administrators
believed that if a child could competently demonstrate an understanding of the
designated eight reading and eight writing skills by the end of Grade 8, they would be
proficiently literate and capable of functioning at a high school level.
A consideration, however, when the idea of forming a PLC was first introduced was
‘how are we going to suit the needs of the students from all four schools?’
Schools A and B are very middle to upper class where the majority of students came
from supportive, educated families, while schools C and D are at the lower end of the
socio-economic scale and had the problems most schools like that face including single
non-working parents, differing cultural backgrounds, drug and alcohol issues and poor
attendance. The administrators however were committed to high levels of learning for
every student and had confidence that their staff could provide quality teaching and
learning activities which were appropriate to all students and provided quality,
measurable outcomes.
An implication here for schools with DET, is that PLCs provide an excellent
opportunity for the implementation of differentiated programming. If tasks are created
to suit schools where the base of clientele differs, regardless of the subject, multiple
assignments can be tailored for each student with differing levels of achievement. The
Curriculum Support document, Vol 11, No.1 2006 states that differentiated
programming is flexible, allowing teachers to move students in and out of groups based
on their instructional needs. It also allows for a student to demonstrate their
understanding of learnt concepts in a variety of ways as opposed to the traditional pen
and paper tests. So while the expectation that a student will complete a task does not
differ, perhaps the method by which the students deliver the final result allows for more
measurable data to be collected.
Ongoing pressure and support were the strategies behind the initial implementation of
the PLC concept. While the administrators were listening to staff feedback and putting
structures into place to provide assistance, such as team facilitators and quality control
groups, they still had the expectation that all staff would contribute positively to the
making of quality teaching documents. At times this did require pressure from not only
the administrators to get teams motivated to finish tasks, but also relying on something
they called ‘positive peer pressure’. If everyone else in the group is pulling their weight,
then those opposed to the process will have to conform to fit in. So basically, the
administrators relied on the theory that supports today’s society, in that if everyone else
is doing it, you will too so that you don’t feel different or out of place. The formation of
a PLC therefore requires not only a common goal, but strong leadership and an
administration that follows the three Ps.
The timing of my study tour meant that some staff had been involved with PLCs since
its beginning in February 2005, while others were experiencing their first term at the
beginning of the 2006/2007 school year. Change over of staff from year to year as well
as staff changing grades was certainly considered a disadvantage of the PLC process.
However, of all staff surveyed as part of my research, one hundred percent considered
the collaboration with other ‘minds’ and the creating of grade based tasks to be the most
beneficial outcome of PLCs.
This once again, has positive and powerful implications for DET in terms of working
collaboratively to achieve improved student outcomes. With the focus being on quality
teaching and providing quality education for all students so that they develop a deep
understanding of delivered content. Collaboratively working with teachers from a variety
of schools will expose students, and team members, to a myriad of ideas and expertise.
One such avenue currently available to DET teachers is the Teaching and Learning
Exchange (TaLE), where ideas are exchanged and professional dialogue occurs between
educators who are committed to the improvement of student outcomes. A Professional
Learning Community in terms of accessing all teachers across the state and providing
people with the opportunity to access resources and ‘experts’ that may not be available to
them in their own school or area.
The four schools involved in the PLC research project, are allocated 2½ Professional
Learning (pupil free) days per term as well as any assigned team time that the
administrators are able to deliver as part of their funding allocation. Certainly the success
of the PLC can be attributed, in part to the amount of time available for people to work
collaboratively on their tasks. Any new venture requires a commitment of time if it is
going to succeed. The administrators recognised this need and were prepared to provide
additional time during the school term in order for all team members, in the beginning,
to become familiar with the PLC objective and how it related to the school improvement
plan. As the project progressed, time was allocated to different stage teams to complete
tasks that were due or fine tune tasks that had been previously submitted.
Fullan 2005, suggests that the most powerful driver of change involves learning from
peers and using the various stages of knowledge and implementation of new ideas that
team members are in, to facilitate change. As previously stated, one of the biggest
disadvantages identified by the Belleville teachers was the constant changing of groups
due to staff turn over and changing grades. Teams were constantly changing and often it
felt like ‘starting from square one again’ when a new member joined as not only did they
have to come in cold as to what the point of the whole PLC process was, but they also
had to very quickly gain an understanding of the previously written tasks and implement
these into their teaching and learning programs.
If we are to follow the advice of Fullan, then the changes made to teams can only be
seen as an advantage as we rely on the knowledge and expertise of the members who are
further along in their understanding of the PLC process to educate and enthuse those
who are just beginning. However, whether you are at the beginning, middle or end of the
process, everyone has something valuable to contribute.
The NSW model of pedagogy has three dimensions: Intellectual Quality, Quality
Learning Environment and Significance. All three dimensions are intertwined and work
on the basic principle that students see learning as significant and relevant through the
provision of quality lessons delivered by quality teachers. Developing PLCs within DET
would certainly allow for the ideal implementation of the three dimensions of pedagogy.
Developing tasks that suit groups of schools addresses the dimension of Intellectual
Quality. Students are given the opportunity to develop a deep understanding of content
matter and engage in thinking and communication relevant to the subject.
Providing a quality learning environment, while an obvious expectation of DET, is
certainly enhanced by the collaborative nature of PLCs. Working as a team to produce
quality tasks often gives teachers the power to improve their teaching techniques and
recognise when changes need to be made for the benefit of the students. Professional
dialogue provides the platform for new ideas and teaching strategies to be circulated.
Developing an ‘Essential Eight’ relevant to the needs of a particular school area provides
a link to the Significance element of the pedagogy framework. Creating meaningful and
relevant learning for students is the basic principle behind teaching. Equipping students
with knowledge that they can apply outside the classroom, in a variety of environments
will ensure that they are life long learners.
As previously mentioned, the administrators decided that for the groups to function
more effectively, facilitators had to be implemented as did quality control teams. Two
facilitators from each grade team were selected, acting as the motivating forces for each
group. It was the facilitators’ responsibility to ensure that team members stayed focused
on the task at hand and made positive contributions to each session. It was also the
responsibility of the facilitators to make sure that tasks were handed in on time, with the
appropriate appendix attached, ready for analysis by the control group. In effect, the
position of the facilitator was one of a leadership role and out of all the groups, at least
one of the co-facilitators already operated with a leadership role in their own school
while the other was seen by the administrators as having strong leadership qualities.
Certainly both Fullan and DuFour both agree that an essential ingredient to the success
of a PLC is a basis of strong leadership to guide and support staff.
The quality control teams were established well into the PLC process, as it was
discovered that while the grade based groups were working effectively at creating tasks
for their own teaching purposes, some of the tasks did not progress succinctly from one
grade to the next. If the focus of this PLC was to produce reading and writing tasks to be
taught at the same time, across 4 schools, from Kindergarten to Grade 8, then there had
to be continuity in the material produced. It therefore, was the responsibility of the
control team, to revise all material handed in, in correlation with Ministry documents, to
ensure that the tasks created were meaningful and the progression from grade to grade
was clearly defined.
As with the selection of the co-facilitators, the administrators had to make sure they were
putting people in roles that would be of benefit to the success of the PLC program.
Strong knowledge of the English document and a cross section of people from Primary,
Junior and Intermediate backgrounds ensured that these teams functioned effectively.
Now that the PLC project is heading into its third year, many changes and improvements
have been made; with the most successful being the introduction of the online based data
entry. Previously, all data was collected in the form of a disk and the grade groups had to
make sure that any attachments they added to their lessons were in hard copy as well as
on the disk. Before the introduction of the co-facilitators, it was basically left up to
anyone to make sure the disks and hard copies were handed in at the end of the day and
all paper work was completed. Unfortunately, there were some problems with this
process. Disks were becoming corrupted from being inserted into many different
computers, meaning hours of work gone and often hard copies of work were lost in
transit. Often when these problems were noticed, it was too far down the track for
members of the groups to remember exactly what the tasks were that they had created
and they had to begin all over again.
The administrators recognised this as being a significant problem and set about finding a
solution. The one they came up with was to use an Alberta-based program called
‘Student Achieve’. This web based program allows the teams to type their material
straight into allocated text boxes and add attachments of any worksheets and assessment
tasks they had created. All members of the team can access the site from their school,
meaning that lesson plans, worksheets and other tasks were not being lost or put in the
‘I’ll get to that pile’ as people could access what they needed when they needed it. An
important aspect of this program is that only the co-facilitators have editing rights.
Meaning that team members can not go in and make changes to any of the created tasks.
Another significant feature of using the Student Achieve program is that all attachments,
that is, worksheets, assessment tasks and marking rubrics have to be created by the
teams. They cannot rely on mass produced worksheets to supplement their lesson plans.
While this may seem time consuming, it provides the students with quality tasks directly
associated with the content matter. If we are to ensure that learning is meaningful, then
teacher generated tasks that have a focussed direction with the gradual withdrawal of
support are a fundamental aspect to the creation of PLC tasks.
For a PLC to succeed, all team members must be on the path of continuous
improvement and share common goals. They must be able to work collaboratively within
a team and be focused on achieving results that are born from careful analysis of current
needs. A successful PLC will be able to answer the following questions;
What do we expect each student to learn?
How will we know when each student has learned it?
How will we respond when some students don’t learn?
It also needs to provide evidence of how they have supported their students through
each stage of the learning process. With an already crowded curriculum and the ever
increasing responsibilities placed on educators to do more and be more, it is often
difficult to balance the responsibility of providing an effective teaching program to suit
the needs of all students in the class with the demand to make sure all content is covered
each year. The formulation of a PLC, whether it is across schools in the same town or
across a number of schools in an education area, can only be of benefit to both teachers
and students. Support, however, needs to be given to schools over the long term if we
are to succeed in developing a culture of PLCs.
An effective professional learning community has the capacity to promote and sustain
the learning of all professionals in the school community with the collective purpose of
enhancing student learning. With the move towards providing a differentiated curriculum
and incorporating the Quality Teaching Framework into all teaching and learning
programs, PLCs will provide the basis for which professional learners and educators can
engage in shared values and vision, collective responsibility for pupils' learning;
collaboration focused on learning; individual and collective professional learning;
reflective professional inquiry; openness, networks and partnerships; mutual trust and
support.
References




Richard Dufour and Robert Eaker; Professional Learning Communities at Work. Best
practice for enhancing student achievement. 1998, Solution Tree, Indiana
Michael Fullan; Education in Motion. Leading in a Culture of Change. Australian
Workshop Tour; Spring 2005
New South Wales Department of Education and Training – Professional Support
and Curriculum Directorate; Quality teaching in NSW public schools. Discussion paper.
2003, Sydney NSW
New South Wales Department of Education and Training – Curriculum K-12
Directorate; Curriculum Support for teaching in Primary. 2006,Sydney NSW