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A Qualitative Study on the Teachers' Professional Learning Communities  

Joo, Hyun-Jun (Daegu National University of Education)
Publication Information
Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education / v.22, no.3, 2010 , pp. 460-475 More about this Journal
Abstract
Professionalizing the teaching workforce has been recognized as one of the primary factors to reforming public education. In response to this challenge, it has been emphasized that an educational leader's role is to support professional learning communities more effectively. Although the academia of educational administration has increasingly drawn the significance of a teacher's professional development, understanding of an educational leader's role and contribution to this effort is quite limited and unclear. This article examines what factors and barriers affect teachers' participation in professional learning communities from the voices and experiences of teachers. The analysis found 1) identification, 2) autonomous will, 3) practical solution for factors to participation and 1) lack of theoretical foundation, 2) financial burden, 3) insufficient time for barriers to participation. In conclusion, the author suggests the strategies for an educational leader who has an important role in developing a teacher's professionalism: 1) create a strong network of university professors and other experts for career advice, 2) make an institutional effort to stimulate teachers' motivation to learn; 3) decrease the teachers' workload, 4) build a synthesized and consolidated system to establish communities.
Keywords
Teachers; Professionalism; Learning communities;
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