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Turning the tide: creating ProfessionalLearning Communities (PLC) to improveteaching practice and learning in SouthAfrican public schoolsE. M. Botha aa Wits School of Education , University of the WitwatersrandPublished online: 19 Oct 2012.

To cite this article: E. M. Botha (2012) Turning the tide: creating Professional Learning Communities(PLC) to improve teaching practice and learning in South African public schools, Africa EducationReview, 9:2, 395-411, DOI: 10.1080/18146627.2012.722405

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ISSN1814-6627 (print) 1753-5921 (online)DOI: 10.1080/18146627.2012.722405University of South Africa Press

Africa Education Review 9 (2)

pp. 395 – 411

Turning the tide: creating Professional Learning Communities (PLC) to improve teaching practice and learning in South African public schools

E. M. Botha Wits School of Education University of the Witwatersrand mathakga.botha@wits.ac.za

AbstractPoor learner performance in South African schools raises concerns related to lack of commitment and accountability from school leaders and teachers with no common vi-sion to promote a culture of high learner performance. This paper provides a literature overview of research available on the impact of professional learning communities (PLC) on effective teaching and practices to promote higher levels of learning amongst students; the nature of PLCs; their essential characteristics, developmental stages and challenges; and an assessment of the benefits of PLC in schools and the challenges of PLC from other researchers’ observations. PLCs are necessary to encourage collab-orative teamwork on essential outcomes and intervention activities in learning. Finally, I conclude by exploring how South African schools can benefit from the practices of professional learning communities which endeavour to improve teaching practices and poor learner achievement.

Keywords: Professional Learning Communities, commitment and accountability, school leadership, teaching and learning, transforming teaching and learner learning

Introduction

The historical background of challenges in segregated schools in South Africa based on ethnic, socio-political and economic differences has resulted in the creation of different teaching practices and school leadership styles in today’s South African (SA) public schools. Many of these differences have their basis

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in the school’s history where better equipped schools, with suitably qualified leadership, and academic staff with strong educational backgrounds, knowledge and skills are in a better position to adapt to use new developments in education. The school leadership and teachers in these context share a common vision and goals to bring about change for school effectiveness and to improve learner academic achievement. Whereas many schools in poorer, historically challenged circumstances continue to struggle with a lack of resources, poorly educated staff and school leaders with little or no training. As a result of these differences, the disputes remain.

This paper will explore both the international and South African literature to consider how the particular practice of creating Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s) in schools can help to alleviate some of these differences and to increase the effectiveness of education being offered to South African children. The facilitating role of the school principal and other school leaders will be explored due to its importance in making space for teachers to engage in such communities.

In the United States, Darling-Hammond and McLaughlin (1995) mention that the vision of practice that underlies the nations’ reform agenda requires many teachers to rethink their teaching practice, to construct new classroom roles and expectations about learners’ outcomes, and to teach in ways they have never taught before. To implement this type of cultural change, teachers can develop strong professional learning communities for instructional improvement and build relational trust with each other linked to respect, competence and to strengthen their school community with shared decision-making (Gordon, 2002).

This fundamental change also requires leadership with knowledge of distributive roles and responsibilities to promote educational improvement. The responsibilityof the school leadership should be to empower others to take leadership roles and instil substantial learning and confidence about good teaching and increased content knowledge (McLaughlin and Talbert, 1993). The use of a democratic approach as a process of empowerment to develop and motivate a sense of responsibility for effective and successful learning is needed for both teachers and learners (Trafford, 1997).

Prior to 1994, schools in South Africa had a monitoring system whereby district officials monitored teachers mainly by concentrating on weaknesses in teaching practice and classroom management. Because feedback did not provide adequate advice to teachers on how to improve their teaching practice

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and it was primarily used for upward reporting and control. This has led to an often antagonistic relationship between teachers and school leadership in many schools. The South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) in response used its political muscle to prevent district officials and school leaders for monitoring and evaluate teachers. The result was lack of trust of school leadership as well as district officials was damaging to their working relationship.

Nearly two decades after South Africa attained its new democratic government, a majority of schools, mostly in black communities in the urban and rural areas show little to no improvement in student achievement and teaching practice. Furthermore, the prevalent ‘top down’ hierarchical structure demands in schools puts constraints on teachers, as a result, they do not focus on improve classroom practices.

Unlike in some of the African countries and globally, South African provincial, district and school leaders do not encourage educators to share educational practices and work together to create better school cultures. In many South Africa schools, teachers work in isolation and their lack of knowledge and quality skills means they may not know how best to challenge learners with high-level learning tasks. The isolation of these teachers means that they remain vulnerable and fail to meet the requirements of effective teaching. In some countries, this isolation is overcome by the creation of professional learner communities which challenge teachers to work collaboratively with others to improve their own practice and the learner achievement (DuFour, 2004).

Often collaboration does not occur because the school leadership may not know how to engage and encourage teachers to work together on problems related to their teaching practice and to understand their learners needs (Morrissey, 2000). The research findings of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform (1998) indicate that there is lack of leaders’ attention to factors such as creating a culture for supportive and shared leadership for teaching and learning, as well as structures that support professional communities. In South African schools many school leaders are promoted into leadership based on their good conduct and loyalty to the school and/or long teaching without requisite training in the roles and responsibilities of good leadership (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker and Many, 2006). As a result, they often lack the knowledge of how to create supportive professional cultures and/or structures for improved teaching and learning. What teachers and school leaders need are effective models for improving the culture of teaching and learning in our struggling schools.

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Effective role of the school leadership

Leadership with knowledge of instructional leadership and the skills to create an environment for distributive leadership are in a better position to make rapid improvements than those whose role are mainly based on school management. School leaders and teachers who learn to share common vision and goals bring about change for school effectiveness and improve learner academic achievement. Williams (2006) contends that education reform and demands for school improvement are fundamental avenues for improving economic and social conditions in society.

Bottery (2004) points out that good quality of a school leader are measured through abilities and determination to motivate teachers and expose them to good quality of teaching. School leadership must set a tone for improvement by modelling active learning, investing time in the process, showing respect for the ideas of others, and empowering teachers as leaders (Zepeda, 1999; Lambert, 1998). Educational leaders need to continually exceed the implementation of government legislation, in both curricular and assessment areas, and focus on promoting instructional practice to redress issues of quality which in effect need to be included in the purview of educational leadership (Bottery, 2004: 10).

Literature shows that in most successful schools, leadership functions are distributed across multiple leaders (Morrissey, 2000; Stoll, Bolam, McMahon, Wallace and Robert, 2006). The distribution of responsibilities promotes interactions between school leaders and teachers to support educational improvement. The interactions create collegial relations with innovative and successful practices to improve teaching and learning. School leadership with vision to promote effective teaching practices and learner achievement can in turn create professional learning communities which encourage collective interactions and collaboration that increase the climate of accountability. Professional learning communities provide one opportunity for adults across the school system to learn and think together about how to improve their practice in ways that lead to learner achievement. This shift would require teachers and school leaders believe in and understand requirements of PLC as a means to meet the educational needs of learners through collaborative day-to-day practices (Vescio, Ross, and Adams, 2008).

Professional learning communities should be part of overlapping, interconnected communities of practice (Resnick and Hall, 2001; Mitchell, Wood and Young, 2001) that can include schools and districts to sustain change. Overlapping

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PLCs are unified by common goals that focus their work on affecting change from a variety of vantage points within the system.

The concept of professional learning community

According to Reichstetter (n.d.) “professional learning community is made up of team members who regularly collaborate towards continued improvement in meeting learner needs through a shared curricular-focused vision”. For professional learning communities to work effectively Eaker and Gonzales (2006) argue that the school leader has to be supportive and provide the structural conditions to allow school leadership and teachers to collaborate in decision-making towards improvement of teacher practice and positive learner achievement. The professional learning community works collectively (Dufour, 2004) on school challenges and makes collective decisions on essential learning outcomes (Hord, 1997; Langston, 2006), both question and reflect on the lessons and instructional practices designed by the PLC team (DuFour and Eaker, 1998; Hall, 2007). Overall, the literature shows that effective professional learning communities promote a collaborative culture among educators (Shellard, 2002) with shared responsibility (Haar, 2003), and with the focus on learning through phase and/or subject team meetings to analyse and impact on teaching practices in order to improve individual and collective results for learners (Peel, 2006). Teacher learning involves participation in a community of practice, and that participation refers to a more encompassing process of being active participants in the practices of social communities and constructing identities in relation to these communities (Wenger, 1998). All of this literature relates to having properly qualified teachers and nothing in the literature indicates whether this is applicable to the school situation in South Africa.

The essential characteristics of professional learning communities

The literature describes the characteristics of a professional learning community as possessing “…a strong goal of learning, a vision that is consistently articulated and referenced as a guide-post in making decisions about teaching and learning” (Hord, 1997: 96). Lave and Wenger (1991) first developed the idea that learning is a process of participation in communities of practice. This means that participation is at first largely peripheral and increases gradually in engagement and complexity. To recognise professional learning communities, Shellard, (2002) emphasises that there must first be an embedded structural and collaborative culture among teachers with a focus on learning for all. It is also

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necessary that school leaders and teachers share responsibility for learners to learn (Haar, 2003) and that teachers have regular team meetings for learning, investigating, developing and the implementing teaching practices. It is when the school leadership and teachers work together with a common purpose, that they learn together and continually improve (DuFour and Eaker, 1998) their pedagogic content knowledge and gain confidence to share their classroom experiences with their PLC peers.

In a professional learning community there is transparency about what learners must know and be able to do, meaning that teachers hold a shared mission, vision, values and goals (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, and Many, 2006). As a result, teachers need to agree upon essential learning outcomes for all learners, ensuring that teaching of the curriculum is workable and well-planned (Langston 2006). DuFour and Eaker (1998) claim that the professional learning community is a synergy of effort in which staff members are committed to the principle that each teacher believes in and works towards implementing. In schools with a professional learning community a collaborative, interdependent practice between teachers who work together can emerge in order to understand learner problems and make decisions in order to ensure that learning is improved. However, DuFour (2004) warns that some teachers will continue to work in isolation despite evidence indicating that working collaboratively represents best practice.

Furthermore, a professional learning community exists when the school leadership and teachers work together towards a shared set of standards and assessments that are known to everyone, including learners. The focus of professional learning communities is to ensure that learners learn, create a culture of collaboration, and focus on results (Hughes and Kritsonis, 2006).

In schools, the main concern of a professional learning community rests on the promise of improving the teaching practice and that students learn. The literature shows that intervention in some schools in America, participation in a learning community has led to positive change in teaching practice and improvement of learner achievement. Various research reports (Dunne, Nave and Lewis, 2000; Englert and Tarrant, 1995; Hollins, McIntyre, Debose, Hollins, and Towner, 2004; Louis and Marks, 1998; Strahan, 2003) reflect on the changes teachers made in their classrooms after they collectively engaged in PLC processes. In support, the study conducted by Dunne, et al. (2000) presents the differences in performance between teachers who participated in professional learning communities and those who did not. The practice of participants using PLC is reported to become more learner-centred over

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time, adding flexibility of classroom arrangements and changes in the pace of instruction to accommodate varying levels of learner content mastery, which is not the case with other teachers.

The participation of cluster subject teachers’ structures in the South Africa encourages teachers to share their subject knowledge; however, there is no evidence of change in teaching those subjects. Research accepts this as a step towards the promotion of professional learning community roles, with the hope that with further interventions proposed during cluster meetings teaching practices will improve. However, there is need to extend knowledge about the purpose and interaction of PLC in cluster groups to extend collaboration. A community of practice involves, thus, much more than knowledge of technical skills or having the skills. Educators should get involved in the development of sets of relationships over time (Lave and Wenger, 1991).

To create professional learning communities culture, teachers have to understand how to share ideas about their teaching strategies, reflect and make inquiry into best practices. Stoll et al. (2006) identify five characteristics needed to create a culture of professional learning communities. Firstly, teachers and school leadership need to collectively hold the same vision for learner achievement and collaborate on strategies and interventions to reach academic goals. Secondly, teachers and school leadership must collectively share the responsibility for the success of all learners which is commitment with a strong sense of accountability, and encourages staff members to work collaboratively. Thirdly, teachers and school leadership should aim to work together to look at strategies that promote academic success. Fourth, the work must involve an exchange of ideas, teaching practices, and analysis of assessment data. Fifth, data is shared among team members for analysis and interpretation to plan intervention strategies. In order for a professional learning community to work together, Jalongo (1991) adds a sixth characteristic, that there must be mutual respect and trust between all members.

The developmental stages of professional learning communities

To develop an effective professional learning community with the characteristics as described above, is to ensure success and an effective means for communication as a developmental process (Dufour, Dufour, Eaker and Many, 2006; McLaughlin et al., 2006). The Developmental Level of Inquiry Based Reform, a chart cited by Reynolds (2008) gives a brief description of professional learning communities, which includes three developmental stages: “the novice stage; the intermediate stage and the advantage stage”

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(McLaughlin and Talbert, 2006: 36). For each level of development the reform include: teacher community, focus effort, data use, shared leadership and inquiry procedures. The novice teachers create team norms of working in professional community using data to experiment making inquiry to discover and develop how reform works. At intermediate level, teachers broaden leadership roles and develop a norm of questioning using shared language to clarify vision and to manage better use of data to find ways of improving teaching and learning. At advance level teachers use whole school and classroom inquiry practices to manage external pressure and developing systems to manage data to focus on improving practice and accountability.

In addition, DuFour et al. (2006) also suggest four stages: (pre-initial stage; initial stage; development stage and sustaining stage) that staff will experience when developing as a professional learning community PLC. These researchers excluded the role played by the school leadership during the developmental stages. During the pre-initial stage educators have not established a core purpose, vision or attempted to make any goals connected to learner improvement. It is in the initial stage that some teachers make attempts to address the ideas of professional learning communities and create collaborative teams. By the third developing stage the majority of teachers were seen to embrace the idea of a professional learning community and that traditional practices also begin to change based on learner learning needs. During the sustaining stage teachers have fully embraced the professional learning community ideal and used it as a vehicle for making instructional changes in order to increase learner achievement. The following is a report of teachers’ conversations about their experience of professional learning communities:

As participants broke the ice by describing their first experiences of professional learning communities, they mentioned getting constant feedback; engaging in rich ongoing dialogue; learning with others in a similar situation; teaching and learning from their peers; solving problems collectively; getting support; and trading stories about what works (Prince, n.d).

These conversations by teachers show a positive attitude in the contribution they make, feeling confidence in what they do, developing trust and respect for each other, and demonstrate their value for working together towards transforming teaching and learning.

The benefits of professional learning communities

The evidence from the literature shows that professional learning communities are a means to improve teaching practices and learner achievement through

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finding collective solutions to improve learning. Vescio, Ross and Adams, (2008) argue that as teachers become more learner-centred the teaching culture is improved. They mostly work together with focus on learner learning, self-empowerment and continuous learning through collaboration and the teacher’s participation in learning communities has a positive impact on their teaching practice. In support, Supovitz and Christman (2003) and Supovitz (2002) findings show measurable improvement in learner achievement that mostly occurred in professional learning communities that focused on changing the instructional practices of their teachers.

According to Williams, Brien, Sprague, and Sullivan (2008) organisational characteristics and operational characteristics play a significant role in the transformation of schools into professional learning communities.

The organisational characteristics

The organisational characteristics include the culture, leadership and capacity-building potential within the school. The successful transformation of a school culture into professional learning communities requires shift from ineffective teaching to outcomes-based learning where teachers revise their classroom instructional practices (Andrew and Lewis, 2007) and develop greater programme coherence (King and Newman, 2000). Capacity-building is key to sustaining professional learning communities. Massel and Goertz (2002) contend that capacity building provides consistency and focus, but that it requires sufficient time and support to change teacher practices. According to Fullan (2005a) the importance of redefining professional development is to create capacity building and a daily habit of working together rather than only using learning from workshops or courses.

The operational characteristics

The operational characteristics for implementing professional learning communities include professional development, data collection and systemic trust. Professional development aims to improve classrooms by concentrating on high standards of teaching and learning. Schools with professional learning communities enable adult learners to expand their content knowledge and knowledge of practice that is directed to promoting learning (Corcoran, 1995; Darling-Hammond and McLaughlin, 1995). In order to effectively engage teachers in effective collaboration, they can engage in discussing data based on learner formative assessment to support school efforts to transform teaching and learning (Guskey, 2007), since summative assessment is considered to have

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failed to address the need for timely classroom interventions (Williams, et al., 2008). Fullan (2006) cautions against excessive use of short term assessments records that would put blame on teachers and undermine their trust or their confidence in PLC. Macmillan, Meyer, and Northfield (2005) emphasise that trust between a principal and teachers is a reciprocal relationship that is not automatic but needs to be negotiated and earned.

The challenges of professional learning communities

Although literature shows that some research findings have identified good practices in schools as a result of the creation of professional learning communities, there are also challenges and an acknowledgement of the limitations of PLCs to transform schools and improve teaching and learning. Challenges identified in the literature include lack or vague understanding of a community’s depth of ‘shared beliefs’, ‘interdependency’, and ‘meaningful relationships’ (Westheimer, 1999). This can result from the critical nature of the communal learning experience and that teachers find it to be extremely challenging and surprisingly ambiguous work (Dooner, Mandzuk and Clifton, 2008). In support, Hargreaves (2001) suggests that teachers often do not understand the nature of the interdependence required for effective learning communities as they strive to contribute to educational reform. Little (2003) warns of a limitation related to classroom practices based on the nature of teacher-led collaboration groups that are created by their own “horizons of observation”.

It is also mentioned that teachers may find the existence of competing tensions an uncomfortable part of the communities’ learning experience, but they must try to get along (Westheimer, 1999). In addition, research also acknowledge that allowing teachers to collaborate without the purpose of working together can result in meetings that are not productive and waste of time.

At times the underdevelopment of leadership capacity makes it difficult for schools to increase their proficiency to facilitate professionals learning communities. As a result, the leadership becomes suspicious and intimidated by teachers with leadership qualities and prevents or disrupt chances for teachers to share and work together toward improvement of their own practice and learn ways to support learners achieve.

Research does not make clear how effective professional learning communities develop, how they are sustained and how teachers learn to work collaboratively throughout the inquiry process (McLaughlin and Talbert, 2006; Wilson

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and Berne, 1999). To avoid failure in the creation of professional learning communities, school leaders have to be clear about what characterises effective professional learning communities. Further, the leadership must make teachers appreciate the demands inherent in the collaborative process, be able to define each others’ actions, and ensure that they fit together so they can create a shared practice (Dooner, Mandzuk and Clifton, 2007). In addition, teaching staff need to engage in groups practice to foster mutual engagement and strive towards the learning process providing them with a sense of belonging (Weick, 1995).

Conclusion and recommendations

Schools need to have clear purpose of professional model development to convey teachers “knowledge for practice” (Cochran-Smith and Lytle, 1999) for purpose of improving learner achievement. The assumption is that teachers need knowledge and skills to enable them to teach effectively. Research indicates that when teachers treat their own classrooms and schools as sites for learning and enquiry; and at the same time treat the knowledge and theory produced by others as generative material for interrogation and interpretation, there is possibility for improved teaching practice and positive impact to learner performance. Through collaborative inquiry, leaders and teachers will be able to explore new ideas, current practice, and learner progress using processes that respect them as the experts on what is needed to improve their own practice and increase learning. If collaboration is a new practice in schools, there is need for training in developing collaborative skills, such as talking, asking relevant questions and making decisions together (Hord and Hirsh, 2008). These can be part of cluster groups or done for school-based needs.

The professional learning community concept is significant in illustrating how teachers can work together to understand learner problems based on assessment data and to collaborate in decision-making to improve teaching practices and motivate positive learner achievement. Hord and Hirsh (2008) propose that an effective learning community occurs when teachers use assessment data for decision-making and to improve classroom instruction. In the case of a school where the use of data is not a familiar practice, it may be necessary to bring in a seasoned professional to guide them in acquiring the skills needed to analyse and interpret data.

Turning the tide

There is no evidence of research in South Africa on the impact PLC, as many teachers still experience challenges in effective teaching and learning. Based

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on bench-mark tests and poor learner results, there is no indication of overall improvement and no indication that the districts and schools collaborate to find solutions and collectively work together to make decision to encourage effective teaching and learning improvement in schools.

Phillips, (2003) highlights the fact that the specific or unique circumstances and environment of each school context is imperative. He recommends that a school plan should provide extra time where teachers deliberate on problems and make decisions that support effective teaching and learning. It is also necessary to provide common planning time for teachers in support of an effective professional learning community as envisaged through influencing and promoting teaching practice and learner achievement. The professional learning communities can not be a top-down edict from the school leadership – it becomes successful when the principal introduces ideas to allow teacher professional development to occur through their own exploration and discovery. The assumption is that teachers will try harder and become more effective in meeting goals for learner performance when the goals are clear, when information on the degree of success is available, and when there are real incentives to meet the goals (Newman, King, and Rigdon, 1997). This supports the belief that teachers recognise a good idea when they see it and if they have the time to work with it, and make it their own.

To be successful in implementing professional learning communities in South African context requires an understanding of its purpose and how it is going to benefit school effectiveness. In order to make professional learning communities a success, the schools need to relinquish their perception of themselves as a privileged locus of learning; understand that the school is not a self-contained and closed world, but are a part of a broader learning system.

Based on the educational short-comings experienced in teaching, learning and management, INSET in-service courses in leadership training need to consider PLC as key to professional development in order to establish a school-wide capacity that will promote and sustain learner and teacher learning (Bolam, McMahon, Stoll, Thomas, and Wallace, 2005). This also has influence in changing the traditional top-down approach practices, which have been unsuccessful to date (Spillane, 2002).

With all of the problems and/or challenges affecting education in South Africa, the creation of professional learning communities is a way to build teacher confidence, trust and to provide them with the skills and knowledge for their educational professional growth. Indeed, in the most recent policy statement

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of the Department of Basic Education there is a call to create robust PLCs (Basic Education and Higher education and Training: Teacher Development, 2011–2025). Professional learning communities can be a powerful instrument with which to encourage collective teamwork between teachers and school leadership geared to achieving essential learning outcomes and intervention activities.

Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank the support from James Stiles and my funding proposal reviewers who encouraged me to pursue and have courage to continue share this literature overview to the benefit of education development and research interest necessary in South Africa. Gratitude is extended to the Carnegie Fund Trust and the University of the Witwatersrand for funding that affords me to write.

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