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As the state retracts further in the Netherlands, the role of civil society increases. Only now the impact becomes visible due to changing arrangements in the social domain. Since enormous cuts in the welfare budgets have been implemented; creative innovations by civil initiatives are much needed to cater for welfare and care arrangements. In the Netherlands we see various developments: a group of citizens did become more active in taking care of their social and physical environment and well-being. We see a shift from 'third generation 'civil participation, where citizens contribute to value creation, to the 'fourth generation' civil involvement where citizens are in the driving seat, local government follows, and social professionals facilitate. In the meantime there are many communities where citizens need to be facilitated to gain more ownership over their social and physical environment. These developments put citizens, social professionals and civil servants in new roles, even new identities, that require specific (new) capacities/practices of interaction. As for social professionals a more situational approach is needed with a variety of behavioral practices. Those capacities/practices will not come automatically but must be cultivated and learned by the actors. We have intensified our research about developing these capacities in various collaborative learning settings in community development projects where professionals and citizens (and local government) are involved. Collaborative learning is a way of learning while working together. In our research we are experimenting with this broad concept (Dillenbourg 1999) in various settings, that we see as learning environments. Social professionals are involved in all settings.All learning environments are about enhancing mutual understanding by the actors involved of each other's positions as well as about fostering the learning, reflective, resilient capacities of the community involved (Maton e.a. 1995).In some learning processes the role of ...

The purpose of this study was to identify the availability of the dimensions of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and the leadership practices that support them in government schools. It also investigated the differences in the previous areas across nationality (Egyptian/ Omani), and gender (male / female). The study sample consisted of 1235 teachers 509 from Egypt and 726 from Oman. The scale developed by Olivier, Hipp and Huffman (2010) was used to measure PLC dimensions, and Pohl (2012) classification was used to identify school leadership practices that support PLCs in schools. This classification is aligned with school leadership standards. The overall sample rated highly both the availability of PLC dimensions and the leadership practices that support them. The study found significant differences due to nationality in favor of the Omani sample, and due to gender in favor of females. The study concludes with some mechanisms recommended to improve PLCs and school leadership to support them in government schools.

In dieser überarbeiteten Dissertation beschäftigt sich Roland BADER ausführlich mit dem Handlungsfeld der außerschulischen Medienpädagogik und interaktionistischen Konzepten des Lernens. Lern- und sozialpsychologische Konzepte wie beispielsweise die "Activity Theory" werden dargestellt. BADER widmet sich im Weiteren den Lernenden Gemeinschaften. Im Anschluss an die theoretischen Erörterungen wird anhand der sorgsam beschriebenen Fallstudie in der pädagogischen Weiterbildung deutlich, wie die Aneignung von Netzkompetenz bei PädagogInnen trainiert werden kann. Hierbei sind für BADER Gestaltung und Grenzen von Learning Communities wesentlich. Als ein Ergebnis ist die Kohärenz der Kommunikation in Gruppen in Bezug auf den Erfahrungsaustausch, auch außerhalb der Aufgabenstellung, zu sehen.

Most would agree that a learning community of practice cultivates social and intellectual development in educational settings but what are the other benefits and what does a learning community actually look like in practice? This book explores such questions as: "Are learning communities essential in education?" "How are they designed and developed?" "What difference do they make in learning?" The book contains contributions of educators who share their research and practice in designing and implementing learning communities in school, university, and professional network settings. It presents their experiences, and the "how to" of these educators who are passionate about building and sustaining learning communities to make a real difference for students, teachers, faculty, and communities. Combining scholarly and practitioner research, the book offers practical information to teachers, school and university administrators, teacher educators, and community educators.

As education reform initiatives around the world are becoming more focused on developing teacher professional development and school professional learning communities (PLCs), the role of school principal leadership in implementing reforms related to the government vision of teacher professional development and school PLC has come to be seen as important. This has also led to the establishment of leadership training programmes for school principals to assist these principals with their new role as leaders of school reform implementation. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the school principals' roles in leading teacher professional development in four public schools in similar socio-economic contexts, but with different levels of learner achievement, within the greater Cape Town area. Towards this end, the thesis relates professional development practices to the relevant policy - the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Professional Education and Development (the 'Framework'), to the Advanced Certificate of Education: School of Management and Leadership (ACE-SML) training curriculum and to the idea of a professional learning community, which is promoted by this policy and this training course. The research reported in this thesis draws on Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of field, habitus, capital, and doxa to conceptualise and describe the relationships between the various players and the ways in which these relationships affect teacher professional development practices and school PLC culture in the participating schools. Findings from this research reveal similarities and differences between the schools with regard to the roles of school senior leaders and the schools' approaches to teacher professional development practices. Ironically, government policy is taken less seriously in the three schools that achieve higher learning outcomes than in the school that achieves weaker outcomes. Instead of conforming to the policy, the approach in each of the three higher achieving schools is based on the history and values of the particular school, the preferences of the principals and whether or not the principal attended the school management and leadership training course.

In a culture of comprehensive school reform, which focuses primarily on improving student achievement, teachers must critically analyze educational research and student data to make professional judgments regarding student achievement. Establishing professional learning communities is one form of professional development (PD) that is proven to engage participants' intellect, involve them in action and reflection, and result in continuous improvement in teaching and student learning. This study explores teachers', administrators', and support service providers' involvement in district supported literature circles intended to create professional learning communities. All participants agreed that the experience was beneficial and helped to foster a sense of community, reassert their professional identity, and provide new perspectives to consider when interacting with students. This research contributes to our understanding of PD as a means to school improvement and provides evidence for effective PD that prepares educational leaders and promotes improved student outcomes.

The extent to which organizational, social, cultural, and leadership contexts within schools support or impede the complexity of emergent leadership as it relates to professional learning communities was investigated in this study. Through in-depth interviews exploring ways in which teacher leadership manifests itself, the ability of teachers to understand their own leadership capacity, and how their emergent leadership influences others, data from this study reshape the notion that schools do not need to reform, but need to transform from traditional schools of teaching into contemporary schools of learning, providing the type of professional knowledge needed to foster 21st century skills for students. Data were collected through one-on-one semi-structured interviews conducted With fourteen teachers from four schools designated as the highest and lowest Title I and Non-Title I schools in a large urban district based on state wide achievement scores. These interview data were analyzed to develop five thematic constructs with sixteen themes. Thematic constructs were also developed to address the four context factors that may support or impede emergent teacher leadership. The findings suggested that teacher leadership has the ability to develop through the process of collaboration which is socially constructed in the context of professional learning communities. Findings further reveal that deep considerations for the ramifications of working within such a complex system as a learning community be made. These considerations include understanding that teacher leadership leads to a shift in decision making from a hierarchical to democratic model, that collaboration builds organizational intelligence, that struggling students are motivators for reflective professional discourse, and that influential peers set the model for this type of intuitive teacher leadership. Implications for further practice and directions for future research are also discussed.

To build learningcommunities, teachers must become colearners. Everyone must be a teacher; all must be learners. One mechanism for developinga learningcommunity is for us to be more purposefully reflective about what we do and to use learningjournals for ourselves, not just for students. This article describes the learningderived from the author's writingand sharingjournal entries in a graduate course on learningorganiza tions. Excerpts from student feedback on the author's journals further illustrate the benefits of keepinga journal.

Educational quality is at the center of debates worldwide. In all these debates, teachers are considered as the critical actors determining to a large extent the quality of our educational systems. At the same time, doubts are expressed related to teachers' quality as well as to the education or training of teachers. In this context, policy debates underline the need for 'excellent' teachers and 'excellent' teacher education. 'Excellence' became the mantra in all educational policy debates. This book presents a model for teachers' professional development together with the three central themes: (1) professionalism of teacher educators, (2) professional development of (student) teachers, and (3) (student) teacher practices. The different chapters in this book discuss these themes in detail and originated from an open call launched at the ISATT 2013 conference that was organized around the central theme of 'Excellence of teachers?'. Urgent issues that address practitioners, teacher educators, and researchers are discussed throughout the chapters and general research challenges for teacher education researchers are put forward in the epilogue of this book.

As public demands for school accountability continue to increase due to federal legislation such as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, educators struggle to meet rising minimum standards. In an effort to address these pressures and search for ways to improve, educators consider implementing a professional learning community model which focuses on the improvement of teaching and learning. While attributes and characteristics of professional learning communities are documented in the literature, little is known about how the model is established or sustained. The purpose of this case study was to understand how one middle school implemented a professional learning community model and planned for sustainability of the model. More specifically, the researcher determined the schools level of immersion in the basic dimensions of a professional learning community, identified compelling and constraining forces affecting implementation, and assessed beliefs of certified personnel about the sustainability of the model. As a quantitative method, a survey instrument to assess perceptions of the faculty on instructional practices was administered to certified personnel. Descriptive statistics reported were mean, median, mode, and standard deviation. Qualitative methods used in this case study included an interview with the principal, a focus group discussion with 5 certified personnel selected by the principal as being knowledgeable about reform efforts in the school, a focus group discussion with 5 certified personnel randomly selected by the researcher, observations of professional learning community meetings, and a review of artifacts. Findings indicated the school was deeply immersed in the basic dimensions of professional learning communities. In addition, compelling forces impacting implementation were categorized as: (a) leadership, (b) time, (c) small changes, (d) staff attitude, (e) on-site expertise, (f) risk-free environment, and (g) system level support. Constraining forces were categorized as: (a) time and logistical issues, (b) staff attitude, (c) stressors and demands, (d) professional development, (e) teacher turnover, (f) student population, and (g) external forces. Factors leading to sustainability of the model were categorized as: (a) leadership, (b) staff recruitment, (c) system level support, and (d) planning for leadership succession.

This paper proposes the building of Indigenous learning communities as an avenue to address the limited engagement of Indigenous Australians with education. Against the backdrop of current discussions of social capital and community capacity building, the paper explores educational policy and program options for linking families, schools and communities (including business and government) to identify and address local needs through drawing upon local resources. Five program models, from both Australia and overseas, are sketched to illustrate a range of approaches to encouraging and fostering positive engagement of families, schools and communities. Although the programs differ in focus, schools and community education are central to each, and all involve degrees of capacity building and the development of social capital. The experience derived from these programs suggests there is value in attempting to position the school at the centre of Indigenous communities. Further, in extending the traditional role of the school to incorporate other initiatives such as adult education and the coordination and integration of various child and family services, these programs necessarily bring more members of the wider community into contact with the school. Many of these programs also deliver increased parental and student participation and retention, and community involvement in the school. Indeed, the underlying philosophies of these approaches foster parental and community ownership of, and involvement in, not only the school, but also the education process in general. This is the foundation for building learning communities, where education is a life-long affair, where families and schools are strong and healthy, and where individuals in communities feel empowered to identify their most pressing needs and develop mechanisms to build capacity and secure resources to address those needs. The paper suggests a cluster of key features derived from the models that could be used in the formulation of a policy and program framework that addresses the needs of Indigenous families, schools and communities through a federally funded initiative to build Indigenous learning communities. Specific recommendations related to funding, evaluation and essential program components are provided.

Acknowledgments -- Table of Contents -- About the Authors -- Foreword -- Introduction -- Chapter One: The Case for Districtwide Alignment -- Alignment's Essential Components -- Chapter Three: Aligning to a Focus on Learning -- Chapter Four: Aligning to a Collaborative Culture -- Chapter Five: Aligning to a Results Orientation -- Chapter Six: An Alternative to Dead Reckoning: Assessing PLC Alignment -- Epilogue -- Appendix -- References and Resources -- Index

In a world where being a 'professional' is an increasingly indistinct notion under siege from scholars and educated laypeople, this interdisciplinary volume advocates the metaphor of 'becoming' as an lifelong process of forming one's professional identity.