Professional Learning Communities

Professional Learning Communities Professional learning community (PLCs) has gained recognition recently due to its positive influence on various aspects of educational process and practices. PLC seems to hold a substantial promise for sustainable development in educational process. Nowadays, educational leaders are required to be well prepared to meet the demands of increasing student achievement and to meet recent and future challenges. The definition can be interpreted differently based on different contexts and audiences. The word professional refers to those individuals who show up with a passionate commitment to their own learning, whereas the word “Learning” refers to an activity in which professionals engage and collaborate to strengthen their competencies. Furthermore, the word “community” refers to a group of people who share a shared mission, values, goals, and experiences to achieve a task. Mullen & Schunk (2010: p193) identified PLC as ‘an organizational reform initiative, a staff or professional development model, and an educational improvement strategy aimed at building the capacity of educational firm.’ Necessity for effective Professional Learning communities Emerging studies have focused on the potential positive impact and outcomes of effective PLCs on leaders’ preparation:

• the establishment of collaborative learning communities is a requirement to help remedy a broken education system.
• it expands the individuals’ efficacy and improves the capacity of the educational organization.
• people that involved in a PLC are happier and less pressured than they were in a conventional educational system.
• well-constructed PLCs enhance collaboration and decrease top-down leadership styles which provides a possibility to create a positive difference in education.
• staff members will become re-energized, feel empowered, and will be creative and more effective.

Dimensions of effective professional learning communities: Scholars have established a theoretical model that clarified the pillars of effective professional learning community. Segne (1990) created his model on five dimensions that contribute to well-constructed effective learning organization. These identified dimensions were: systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building shared vision and team learning. Hence, we all agree that educators should work cooperatively and form teams to be engaged in a continuous collaboration cycle that develop team learning.