ERIC Number: EJ1019571
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013-Nov
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1365-4802
EISSN: N/A
Reconstructing Professional Learning Community as Collective Creation
Allen, David
Improving Schools, v16 n3 p191-208 Nov 2013
The article presents a cross-domain inquiry into schoolwide professional learning community. It examines tensions in how professional learning community is conceptualized and how it is enacted in the processes of teacher groups. Drawing on a study of contemporary theatre arts practices, it proposes a model of collective creation that highlights three interacting elements of a group's activity: means, materials, and modes of engagement. The article conducts a paired analysis of a primary school teacher group meeting. In the first analysis, it investigates how the group's discussion reveals features of professional learning community, especially collaboration, inquiry, and collective responsibility for student learning, as well as tensions in how these are enacted. In the second, it considers how the discussion manifests elements of collective creation, and proposes how these could be strengthened. The article argues for a reconceptualization of professional learning community that preserves the features identified above but extends these through the collective creation of instructional and conceptual resources for teacher learning and instructional improvement.
Descriptors: Communities of Practice, Theater Arts, Elementary School Teachers, Faculty Development, Teacher Collaboration, Inquiry, Teacher Responsibility, Teacher Improvement, Group Activities, Educational Resources
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Information Analyses
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A