Abstract:

The purpose of restructuring schools as professional learning communities (PLCs) is to make instruction more effective and maximise student learning through administrators' and teachers' implementing better practices based on a support culture. In this respect, teachers identify student learning by focusing on analyses and assessments on students' performance. They make plans regarding what and how to teach, and try to enhance the quality of learning by preparing action plan for students who cannot learn at the desired rate and level. They attempt to reveal successful learning products, and organise activities for students who learn quickly and sufficiently. In schools that have an emphasis on the understanding of a professional learning community, the focus is on student learning that is the technical essence of the school, and instructing is emphasised less. This is because instructing is about making students comprehend certain pieces of information, while learning makes references to their individual, emotional, cognitive and behavioural characteristics. In other words, a student is regarded as special in learning. From this perspective, the practices of professional learning communities aim to have a school environment in which all students can learn and succeed, and includes activities of improvement and development. In this way, they ensure higher quality of education. In this study, positive contributions of the restructuring of schools as professional learning communities to student learning and the quality of education are found to increase the interest in this issue. Different characteristics of schools as professional learning communities are observed to be widely examined in the international literature. However, in the Turkish literature, studies on professional learning communities are quite new, and this phenomenon need to be examined from different aspects. Therefore, the present study focuses on the conceptual framework, basic assumptions, theoretical foundations, objectives, dimensions and samples of professional learning communities, and provides suggestions regarding its implementation in Turkish schools

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