The Development of a Professional Learning Community Model for Enhancing the Instructional Leadership Capabilities of Middle School Teachers in Maoming, Guangdong Province of China
Keywords:
Professional learning communities, instructional leadership, principals’ capabilitiesAbstract
The objective of this study was to develop a professional learning community model to enhance the instructional leadership capabilities of middle school teachers. This study focused on middle schools in Maoming, Guangdong province of China. The study utilized a mixed-methods approach which involved both content analysis, interviews and questionnaires. A random sample of 613 middle school teachers participated in the research which examined principals’ capabilities and professional learning communities for enhancing the instructional leadership capabilities of teachers. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the significant principals’ capabilities and attributes of professional learning communities for enhancing teachers’ instructional leadership capabilities. The final model was developed from the analysis of the data and validated by external experts. The results indicated that there is a gap between the desirable and current instructional leadership capabilities of teachers, principals’ support was insufficient, and the professional learning communities were not working as well as expected. Recommendations include having principals develop their specific capabilities in order to develop teachers’ instructional leadership. Additionally, principals and teachers should work together to overcome obstacles and focus joint effort in creating effective professional learning communities in their schools. Professional learning communities are essential to learning and when professional learning communities are well operated, they have the potential to help teachers learn from each other and conduct collaborative work with focus on student learning.
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