A case study of two teacher learning communities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract

In the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development, a South African policy, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the Department of Higher Education (DHET) call for the formation of professional learning communities and envisage support for teachers and access to enhanced professional development opportunities at the local level. However, the formation and operation of professional learning communities in a South African context is still unclear. In this article we use the concept of professional learning communities to examine the extent to which 2 teacher learning communities operate as professional learning communities. We used interviews, observations, survey questionnaires and document analysis to generate data. The findings of the study reveal that the 2 teacher learning communities were initiated by the DBE and not by teachers. However, the size of 1 teacher learning community and the nature of its functioning seemed to adhere to the characteristics of a professional learning community while the other did not. The findings indicate that professional learning communities that operate in developing contexts might be functional when all the stakeholders play a meaningful role in supporting professional learning communities.

Perceived organizational support and its relationship to teachers' perceptions of learning communities in Palestinian secondary schools.

“…These results are consistent with what was shown by the (Zulu, 2021) study that teachers with more years of experience have more learning communities than teachers with less years of experience. Which states that there is no statistically significant correlation between the degree of perceived organizational support in Palestinian secondary schools and teachers' perception of learning societies.…”

“…The results of research that dealt with determining the role of years of experience and their impact on teachers' perceptions of learning communities varied, such as the study (Walton, 2022). As for Zulu`s study (Zulu, 2021) it did not find differences in years of experience in teachers' perceptions of learning societies. This explains the divergence of research results with regard to the relationship of years of experience with teachers' perceptions of learning communities.…”

“…And the study (Zulu, 2021) entitled: A case study of teacher learning communities in South Africa. This study aimed to identify a case study of teacher learning communities in South Africa (112) male and female teachers.…”

Exploring history teachers’ understanding of the role of professional learning communities in enhancing curriculum implementation

“…What is missing from their definitions is the nature of the discussion or conversation the teachers were supposed to engage in when they meet because teacher talk in a PLC is the discussion between peers that allows them to explicitly articulate, appreciate, and extend their understanding of practice. These conversations must unlock the tacit knowledge of teachers, make that knowledge public and shared, and therefore subject to deliberate and thoughtful changes (Zulu & Mukeredzi, 2021). This is supported by Clark et al (2023) who claim that the term professional learning community describes how teachers engage in professional development in a collaborative, interactive, and ongoing way, in contrast to traditional models of professional development which are developed by outside experts and delivered to teachers.…”

“…In previous studies, the value of PLCs has been explored in various fields, including Physical Education (Gonçalves et al, 2022;Parker et al, 2022), life sciences (Bertram & Mxenge, 2023), natural sciences (Marimandi, 2022), and Mathematics (Harvey & Teledahl, 2021). In their study, Zulu and Mukeredzi (2021) examined the extent to which two teacher-learning communities to determine if they operated as professional learning communities. They found that these communities were initiated by the Department of Basic Education rather than teachers themselves.…”