Leadership that Supports the PLC Policy Reform Agenda

Policy initiatives to introduce, develop and sustain teacher learning in communities in schools are progressively gaining momentum. Educational policymakers’ are increasingly persuaded that teacher quality has substantial... [ view full abstract ]

Policy initiatives to introduce, develop and sustain teacher learning in communities in schools are progressively gaining momentum. Educational policymakers’ are increasingly persuaded that teacher quality has substantial significant impact on student learning. They are also convinced that effective, or more effective, teacher learning are job-embedded, inquiry-oriented, and community-based. This explains why teacher learning in the form of professional learning communities (PLCs) has gain much attention and interest in the last two decades. PLCs, which can be conceptualized as group or school approach, afford teachers the means by which they could learn with like-minded colleagues on shared interests and goals pertaining to student learning by interrogating their teaching beliefs and practices, and in doing so, improve their teaching practices. The growing interest in PLCs is also in tandem with growing interest in developing new pedagogies to satisfy a broadened set of student learning outcomes (e.g., 21^st century competencies). Teachers are once again called upon to develop appropriate school curriculum to meet learning outcomes that suit the future economy and society. PLCs seem to be a highly suitable option for teacher learning insofar as it provides the learning spaces for teachers with similar interests and goals to learn and work together in order to develop the school curriculum that best fits their own students’ learning needs. The success of the policy initiatives that promote PLCs is therefore highly dependent on teachers’ motivation and effort in sustaining viable and successful PLCs. However, the role of school leadership in sustaining viable and successful PLCs is highly dependent on school leadership. Although this argument is seemingly obvious, more research needs to be done to have a fuller understanding of it. Schools have evolved much in recent time, and leadership is no longer residing in one particular position such as the school head or principal. It is therefore common for leadership to be more distributed to include middle leaders and teacher leaders to support the curricular and instructional aspects of schooling, including teacher learning. Furthermore, leadership support for PLCs is important not only outside, but also within PLCs. This paper seeks to elucidate how leadership, in its distributed form, support viable and successful PLCs, albeit from qualitative research findings of five primary schools in Singapore. The paper highlights the importance of synergistic leadership practices of senior leaders, middle leaders and teacher leaders in support viable and successful PLCs.