What is a Professional Learning Community???¹

It is the formal organization of a group of people (in this case the art educators of District one) who want to achieve goals and objectives to benefit a group (students and art teachers of District 1).

In order for it to work, the group must have certain elements.

Supportive and shared leadership,

• Administrators, along with teachers, must be learners who question, investigate, and seek solutions.

Collective creativity,

• The group must continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire. New and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, collective aspiration is set free, and people are continually learning how to learn together”.

• The group must find and research the “’best practices”.

Shared values and vision,

• “Staff are encouraged not only to be involved in the process of developing a shared vision but to use that vision as a guidepost in making decisions about teaching and learning”.

Supportive conditions

• “time to meet and talk, interdependent teaching roles, well-developed communication structures, teacher empowerment”

• availability of resources, reduced isolation, policies that encourage greater autonomy

• willingness to accept feedback and work toward improvement

• respect and trust among colleagues, possession of an appropriate cognitive and skill base, shared vision, parents and community members as partners and allies

Shared personal practice.

• peers helping peers – teachers find help, support and trust as a result of their relationship with each other

• teachers tolerate (even encourage) debate, discussion and disagreement. “They praise and recognize one another’s

triumphs, and offer empathy and support for each other’s troubles.”

Professional Learning Communities: What Are They And Why Are they Important?

Issues…about Change, Vol 6, No. 1, (1997)