Teachers Leading Educational Reform The Power of Professional Learning Communities

Teachers Leading Educational Reform explores the ways in which teachers across the world are currently working together in professional learning communities (PLCs) to generate meaningful change and innovation in order to transform pedagogy and practice. By discussing how teachers can work collectively and collaboratively on the issues of learning and teaching that matter to them,itargues that through collective action and collaborative agency, teachers are leading educational reform. By offering contemporary examples and perspectives on the practice, impact and sustainability of PLCs, this book takes a global, comparative view showing categorically that those educational systems that are performing well, and seek to perform well, are using PLCs as the infrastructure to support teacher-led improvement. Split into three sections that look at the macro, meso and micro aspects of how far professional collaboration is building the capacity and capability for school and system improvement, this text asks the questions: Is the PLC work authentic? Is the PLC work being implemented at a superficial or deep level? Is there evidence of a positive impact on students/teachers at the school/district/system level? Is provision in place for sustaining the PLC work? Teachers Leading Educational Reform illustrates how focused and purposeful professional collaboration is contributing to change and reform across the globe. It reinforces why teachers must be at the heart of the school reform processes as the drivers and architects of school transformation and change.

Introduction SECTION 1 - TEACHERS LEADING EDUCATIONAL REFORM WITHIN AND ACROSS SYSTEMS 1. Taking the lead: Teachers leading educational reform through Collaborative Enquiry in Scotland 2. Teachers Leading Reform Through Inquiry Learning Networks: A View from British Columbia 3. Teacher leadership within and across professional learning communities in England 4. Teacher-Led Professional Collaboration and Systemic Capacity Building: Developing Communities of Professional Learners in Ontario 5. Teacher Leaders in Professional Learning Communities in Singapore: Challenges and Opportunities SECTION 2 – TEACHERS LEADING EDUCATIONAL REFORM WITHIN AND ACROSS DISTRICTS AND SCHOOLS 6. Teachers at the Forefront: A Comprehensive, Systematic Process for Creating and Sustaining a District-Wide Culture of Learning 7. From PLC Implementation to PLC Sustainability: The Pivotal Role of District Support 8. District Efforts to Support the Professional Learning Community Framework in Schools: Transformation of Learning 9. Creating a network for teacher-led reform and pedagogical innovation in Taiwan SECTION 3 – TEACHERS LEADING EDUCATIONAL REFORM WITHIN AND ACROSS SCHOOLS 10. Developing adaptive expertise through professional learning communities in New Zealand 11. Professional Learning Communities in Chinese Senior Secondary Schools 12. Decentralisation, localism and the role of Professional Learning Communities in supporting school collaborations in Wales Conclusion

Alma Harris is Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Malaya, Malaysia. Michelle Jones is Assistant Professor of Education at the University of Bath, UK. Jane B. Huffman is Emeritus Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of North Texas, USA.