Disentangling the Toing and Froing of Professional Learning Community Implementation by Reconnecting Educational Policy with School Culture

Professional Learning Communities and Democratic Ideals: The Influence of John Dewey

“…Currently, in the educational system, PLCs have emerged as a popular concept for all schools where teachers have resolved to collaborate and focus their attention on the learning of students [24,8]. A PLC has been described as a public school setting where attention is placed on learning and collaboration and every member shares the responsibility to achieve the desired results [10,12,24]. Schools in the United States of America (U.S.A) and other countries around the globe are making serious efforts to establish PLCs as hubs of the work of teachers.…”

“…In PLCs, teachers learn by working closely with their colleagues, engage in continuous dialogue as well as observe critically their practice, student performance to be able to develop better and effective instructional practices [54]. PLCs present a paradigm shift from teacher-centered instruction to student-centered learning, which has positive effect on students' learning outcomes [10,12,24].…”

“…There were clarion calls for the ineffective practices to be replaced with collaborative team work where teachers would embrace responsibility dealing with the outcomes of students' learning. Concerning the organizational arrangement, PLC is recognized as a strong form of staff development which has the potential to transform and improve schools in a country [24].…”

“…They argue that learning communities that are democratic exhibit the characteristics of knowledge creation instead of holding the assumption that others are the only capable people to produce all knowledge, and conflict and controversy form an integral part in the process of learning. Notwithstanding, the culture of collegiality should be embraced which "encourages solidarity, cooperation, mutual assistance, mutual respect, and advice among members based on professionalism" [24]. The existence of collegiality among teachers in PLCs will breed an atmosphere of peace, harmony, and unity all the time.…”

An Integrative Approach to Improve Students' Cognitive Ability Through Online Learning in The Covid-19 Pandemic

“…The research aims to determine students' cognitive S abilities through an integrated approach of the connected type carried out through group action research to conduct experiments. This is done because students study at home during the covid-19 pandemic (Abbas, 2022;Jafar et al, 2022;Tuhtasinovich & Ubaydullaevna, 2022). Through an integrated approach, it is expected that students learn meaningfully and connect with other subjects so that students are not bored studying at home during covid-19 (Akhmedovna, 2022;Alghazo & Alkhazaleh, 2021;AlKhaza'leh & Obeidat, 2021;Verulava et al, 2022).…”