Professional Learning Communities in Schools: Challenges and Opportunities

Existing paradigms of professional development seem to undermine the rich wealth of experiences that teachers have in the schools. Professional learning communities (PLCs) are designed to encourage teachers to look closely into their contexts and develop relevant courses of actions towards their concerns. The present study aimed to explore the experiences of secondary school teachers and school administrators in the Philippines while implementing PLCs. Interviews and focus group discussions involving 40 teachers and 24 school heads and head teachers from four different schools were transcribed and analyzed for emerging themes. Results reveal that there are four primary challenges experienced by the teachers in participating to PLCs: overloads and time conflicts, low trust towards fellow teachers, conflict with ranking and promotion schemes, and failure to appreciate benefits of participation. These challenges are rooted in the school operations and school culture. In terms of opportunities, the following themes are identified: enriched learning strategies and materials, support for new hires, better interaction between school heads and teachers, and more contextualized discussions of school and student concerns. These opportunities can be explored by school heads in improving the quality of professional development activities implemented in the school. Results also pose challenge to school heads on how to better engage the teachers into participating into PLCs to maximize the opportunities.