Related Links

For school principals and teachers interested in topics such as, school development, cooperation in and among schools and leadership, the following sources and events may be interesting:

  • The “Forum Leadership in der Lehrerbildung” (Forum Leadership in Teacher Training), is an annual, German speaking conference, held in Berlin. It is dealing with topics like school development and teachers’ participation in these processes.

  • Every second year, the “World Education Leadership Symposium (WELS)” offers a broad programme related to questions of school leadership. It can be useful to deepen knowledge and to get a hands on training concerning specific methods, e.g. for team development. It also deals with developments schools are confronted with, like digitalisation, healthy schools or refugee migration. The WELS is mainly held in German, but there is an English programme strand as well a French one.

  • Especially focusing PLCs, the following website is a real treasure box, containing scientific articles on PLCs as well as material that can help, successfully running a PLC: http://www.allthingsplc.info/about.

For more information about:

  • Cooperation with PLCs:

      • DeMatthews, D. (2014). Principal and Teacher Collaboration: An Explo-ration of Distributed Leadership in Professional Learning Communities. International Journal of Educational Leadership and Management, Vol. 2(2), 176-206. doi: 10.4471/ijelm.2014.16

      • DuFour, R., DuFour, R., Eaker, R., & Many, T. (2010). Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work, (2.ed.). Bloomington: Solution Tree Press.

      • Feger, Stephanie/Arruda, Elise (2008): Professional learning communities: Key themes from the literature. https://www.brown.edu/academics/education alliance/sites/brown.edu.academics.education-alliance/files/publications/PBS_PLC_Lit_Review.pdf (Abfrage: 27.07.2019)

      • Hord, S. (1997). Professional Learning Communities: Communities of Continuous Inquiry and Improvement. Austin: SEDL.

      • Owen, S. (2014). Teacher professional learning communities: Going be-yond contrived collegiality toward challenging debate and collegial learning and professional growth. Australian Journal of Adult Learning, 54 (2), S. 54-77. http://search.proquest.com/docview/1547708625?accountid=14800.

      • Stoll, L., Bolam, R., McMahon, A., Wallace, M. & Thomas, S. (2006) Professional Learning Communities: A Review of the Literature. Journal of Educational Change, 7 (4), S. 221-258.

      • Warwas, J. & Helm, C. (2018). Professional learning communities among vocational school teachers: Profiles and relations with instruc-tional quality. Teaching and Teacher Education, 73, S. 43-55.

ProFLüP - Professionalization of School Leaders and Teachers via Professional Learning Communities

In the project, which is financed by the Robert Bosch Foundation (2018-2021), the research team explores the establishment of professional learning communities of school leaders (SL-PLC). That intent became possible because of the development of professional learning communities of school leaders within the ERASMUS+ project HeadsUP.

By the Grounded Theory Methodology (Strauss & Corbin, 1996) the research team analysed different strands of data on how SL-PLCs work and which effects their work has on leadership skills, teacher professionalism and school development, both with regard to the learning processes of students and the professional handling of challenges which affects schools, e.g inclusion.

In the project a theoretical model of the establishment of SL-PLCs has been developed and provides ideas about basic structures, processes and significant agreements in SL-PLCs. The model serves both, as a basis for further research and for further development of SL-PLCs in the school system.

First insights into the work on the establishment of SL-PLCs can be found in the German paper by Rist, Kansteiner & Stamann, 2020: https://www.beltz.de/fachmedien/erziehungs_und_sozialwissenschaften/buecher/produkt_produktdetails/40015-professionelle_lerngemeinschaften_als_entwicklungsinstrument_im_bildungswesen.html

Education and School Leadership Symposium - September 6 to 8th 2017: http://www.schulleitungssymposium.net/