Developments of Professional Learning Communities and Challenges for Principals in Chinese Urban Middle Schools

Professional learning communities (PLCs) have seen a rapid spread all around the world over the past 30 years. Since then it has been proved that they can improve teaching quality and thereby the achievement of students, and so PLCs have attracted increasing attention especially from education systems. In China, PLCs have been developed vigorously within schools since the implementation of the ‘New Curriculum Reform’ in 2000. However, the west has paid scant attention to and were not familiar with them since most research in this field in China was published in Chinese.Furthermore, PLCs are influenced by contextual and cultural factors, and therefore PLCs in Chinese education systems are different from those in Anglo-American settings due to long-standing cultural differences, which require consideration. Therefore, this research will investigate the PLCs in China that may be of interest. Many recent studies have shown that, although PLCs have made significant progress in Chinese urban middle schools through the enthusiastic efforts of educators and scholars, there are still several barriers. The primary purpose of this research is to review the development of PLCs and additionally to analyse the challenges faced by the principals.