The development of strong teacher communities is an idea that has been promoted as a way to foster strong school communities and to raise student academic achievement. As part of the contemporary small schools reform movement, schoolswithin- schools are also cited as a way of increasing school-wide and teacher community through the increased social interactions due to the smaller school size. However, little dedicated research has been directed at this topic. In response to the lack of clarity on the subject, this study examined the change in teacher community at a high school during the initial stages of its efforts to implement a schools-within-schools model. The research questions that guided the inquiry were: 1) How did teachers describe the teacher community that existed in their school? What experiences of teachers appeared to shape these descriptions? 2) What were teachers’ goals and beliefs about teacher community? What experiences of teachers appeared to shape these goals and beliefs? and 3) What were teachers’ views of a change in teacher community following the school’s restructuring of its organization to one that follows a schools-within-schools model? Data came from three sources: interviews with 12 faculty members at the school, observations of faculty interactions, and school documents that provided a background context of meetings and school structure. Data collection and analysis was guided by the components of teacher community from Westheimer’s (1998) theoretical framework: interaction and participation; interdependence; shared interests and beliefs; concern for individual and minority views; and meaningful relationships. The results revealed that teachers’ perceptions of community changed from one defined by strong departmental relationships and limited interdepartmental connections to one characterized by incidental relationships, a lack of common goals, and isolation. The constant change in district and school policies and initiatives and the high teacher turnover were primary reasons for these outcomes. Teachers’ goals and beliefs were found to be strongly influenced by their assignment, or lack thereof, to an interdisciplinary team of teachers. Primary implications included: 1) restructuring attempts must be enacted intentionally, with teacher involvement in the process; and 2) teacher retention must be a focus in order to maintain continuity of communication and trust, and ultimately, professional collaboration. / text

This thesis initiates from the empirical researches findings which indicate that cognition-action gap exists in knowledge sharing practice. In order to have a deep insight, the researcher conducts a phenomenological qualitative research to explore the context behind this phenomenon. We adopt phenomenological interview technique to explore the lived experience concerning knowledge sharing in knowledge management systems (KMS) called SCTNet. We interview forty-nine teachers who register as the members on SCTNet and are located in different cities in Taiwan. Research findings show that the meaning of knowledge that teachers perceive are¡G the techniques and lived experiences accumulated from the interactions with children¡¦s parents and children, teaching professions and designs, and the beliefs in teaching. The teachers perceive knowledge sharing as the transit power in transforming oneself from alone to belong to the teacher¡¦s professional community and helps oneself expands his/her experience from limited into broader. We find that teachers¡¦ interaction happened in five different fields in the school. These are the places of workshop, demo, gossiping, apprenticeship learning, and ¡§the space between you and me¡¨. In each field, there exist different phenomena of interactions. In the fields of workshop, demo, gossiping and apprenticeship learning, most of the interactions are perceived as a ¡§form of play¡¨, and only little lived experience is shared in these places. Most of lived experience sharing and learning happen in ¡§the space between you and me¡¨. Research findings indicate that the constrains frame these teachers in speaking out of their lived experience are¡Gthe norms of teacher society, busyness, and loneness. These teachers show their desires in looking for ¡§others¡¨ as the learning and sharing partners in SCTNet. Yet, they show different participation phenomena while they present themselves in the virtual space and these phenomena outline two forums for interaction in SCTNet. One of them is ¡§Smart¡¨ platform and another is ¡§Outside¡¨. On the ¡§Smart¡¨ platform, teachers perceive themselves as smart teachers and show strong group identity to this platform, share their lived experience actively, and always give support while partners need. They defense against outsiders while others criticize their platform. However, the members and their behaviors in sharing on ¡§Smart¡¨ platform are through the security check and guaranteed the sharings are safe. The phenomena in ¡§Outside¡¨ show that most of the participants keep quiet or with few interactions to hide themselves from the ¡¨others¡¨ on SCTNet. In this area, a lot of teaching materials are stored and used by the novices or the travelers on the virtual space. Sometimes, ¡§Outside¡¨ serves as the communication channel of the educational administration for transfering the documentations. Yet, with the administration intervention, participants are encouraged to submit or post some materials upon the ¡§quantity¡¨ request. This makes the SCTNet under the risk of becoming an information junkyard (McDermot 1994). Research findings also indicate the factors which serve as obstructs, exits, and projections that teachers tour around the physical and virtual space. At the end, several reflections are proposed from the perspectives of educational contexts, teachers, and information technologies for constructing the knowledge management systems.

This is a case study of the challenges and complexities of initiating a professional learning community of teachers. Situated in a school in the British West Indies, this study draws on the experiences of seven teachers initiating a professional learning community (PLC) over a 12-week term in 2007. Individual interviews, group meetings, journal entries, and exit comments were analyzed to construct five main themes: Initiating a PLC, Features of a PLC, Challenges of a PLC, Benefits of a PLC, and the Future of the PLC. These teachers recognized the need for this community because of challenges and problems they faced. Many features reported in the literature on PLCs were present in this nascent PLC of teachers. The teachers created their own shared vision and provided evidence of collective learning in the weekly meetings. Participants developed trust and shared many personal practices and experiences of teaching. Challenges to initiating a professional learning community included finding time to meet, a weak school culture, and barriers associated with immigration status. Despite the challenges, there were many perceived benefits, including saving time through subject integration, personalizing professional development, and increasing socialization to reduce teachers' sense of professional isolation. The teachers also displayed changes in attitudes towards teaching and how they approached teaching their classes. Classes became more student-centred as teachers tried to meet the diverse needs of their students. The promise of increased collaboration and membership at the conclusion of data collection failed to materialize when a new leader did not come forward. / Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2008-04-23 13:41:46.823

本研究旨在探討國民小學校長空間領導、教師社群運作與學生學習成效的關聯性。本研究採用問卷調查法，以臺灣地區公立國民小學教育人員為對象，總共發出1,064份問卷，回收1,008份問卷，回收率為94.74%，而有效問卷回收率則為92.20%。正式問卷回收之後，分別以描述性統計、t考驗、單因子變異數分析、皮爾森積差相關、逐步多元迴歸以及結構方程模式等統計方法加以分析。 本研究獲得以下八項結論，分述如下： 一、 國民小學校長空間領導各層面達到高程度表現，在「建構教育空間」、「形塑空間願景」層面表現最突出。 二、 國民小學教師社群運作各層面表現達到高程度表現，以「情感投入」層面最獲肯定。 三、 國民小學學生學習成效各層面表現達到中高程度表現，其中以「學生行為表現」層面最獲認同。 四、 不同背景變項在國民小學校長空間領導、教師社群運作與學生學習成效之差異有其脈絡因素存在。 五、 國民小學校長空間領導、教師社群運作與學生學習成效三者間具有正向關聯。 六、 國民小學校長空間領導及教師社群運作的分層面能預測學生學習成效。 七、 國民小學校長空間領導、教師社群運作與學生學習成效的結構方程模式之適配度評鑑良好，能解釋主要變項間的關係。 八、 國民小學校長空間領導可直接影響學生學習成效，更可間接透過教師社群運作的中介機制，對學生學習成效產生正向影響。 最後，根據研究結論，提出相關建議，俾供教育行政主管機關、學校設施規劃設計、學校單位以及後續研究之參考。 / The main purpose of this study was to explore the relationship among principals’ space leadership, teacher community operation, and student learning outcomes in Taiwan elementary school. The researcher adopted survey as the main research method. The subjects have been public elementary school educators in Taiwan. 1,064 school staffs were selected to complete the questionnaire, where 1,008 questionnaires were returned. The return rate was 94.74% and the valid rate was 92.20%. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson product-moment correlation, stepwise regression, and Structural Equation Modeling. Based on the result of the current study, eight research conclusions were generated as follows: 1. The level of space leadership of principals in the elementary schools is high, and the performance in “constructing educational space” and “molding space vision” are outstanding. 2. The level of teacher community operation is high, and “affective engagement” is certainly the most eligible in the elementary schools. 3. The level of student learning outcomes is medium-performance, and “student behavior” acquired the most recognition in the elementary schools. 4. The differences of the background of principals’ space leadership, teacher community operation, and student learning outcomes have the context factors. 5. The relationships among principals’ space leadership, teacher community operation and student learning outcomes have positive correlations. 6. The sub-level of the principals’ space leadership and teacher community operation can apparently predict the student learning outcomes. 7. The proper fit of structural equation model among principals’ space leadership, teacher community operation and student learning outcomes is assessed as positive and can explain the relationships among main variables. 8. The principals’ space leadership can affect student learning outcomes directly, and which can also affect student learning outcomes positively through teacher community operation. Eventually, according to the above conclusions, the research is to provide some recommendations as future references for the educational administration authority, school planners, and elementary schools.

教師專業學習社群（簡稱「教師社群」）是一種協助現場教師突破孤立狀態、與同儕相互學習、以持續專業發展、進而提升創意之重要方式。 本研究透過量化模式的檢驗，探究教師社群互動、工作希望感受與創造性轉化之關係，以問卷調查法，針對台灣地區教師，進行取樣研究，有效問卷共計891份。研究工具包括「社群互動品質量表」、「工作希望感受量表」與「創造性轉化行為量表」。此外，並透過對典型個案之訪談，探究四個「創意教師行動研究」成功社群的經營策略。 量化研究主要發現：「教師社群互動、工作希望感受與創造性轉化」模式之驗證獲得支持。此模式的意義在於：良好的教師社群必須兼顧認知與情感層面的互動；如此，除了可直接促進教學上的創造性轉化之外，認知與情感互動尚可以透過工作希望感受之中介效果來影響教師的創造性轉化。至於教師工作希望感受的提升，則能直接影響創造性轉化的展現。其次，根據個案分析整理歸納出經營社群的重要策略，如：「感動策略」、「友誼策略」、「共同解決問題策略」、「榮耀共享策略」、「低調漸進緩慢策略」、「彰權益能策略」、「成就感策略」、「資源網絡拓展策略」、「雁行領導策略」以及「持續互動策略」。 最後，本研究根據上述發現並針對教育實務與未來研究層面，提出具體建議以供參考。 / Nowadays, the concept of a “teacher professional learning community” (Teacher Community, TC) is an important approach to cultivate, develop, and sustain teachers’ professional development and creativity. In Taiwan, from the perspective of TC, how to facilitate teachers’ creativity is also valued under the Creative Education policy. However, empirical evidence is rarely discussed. Thus, this study addresses two aspects: (1) the relationship of TC, work hope and creative transformation (Study I), (2) to explore the main strategies of managing teacher communities (Study II). In Study I, a SEM model is proposed using the linear structural relations (LISREL) to test the research hypotheses with the data from 891 valid questionnaires collected. Instruments used include Interactions of Communities Scales, Work Hope Scale, and Creative Transformation Scale. The estimated results of the proposed model are found to substantiate the requirements of the general LISREL model. The majority of the fit indices have indicated good fit of the model to the data. The main findings include (1) Cognitive interactions of communities have significantly direct and indirect effects through work hope on creative transformation; (2) Affective interactions of communities have significantly direct and indirect effects through work hope on creative transformation; (3) Work hope has a significantly direct effect on creative transformation. These results have suggested that teachers’ work hope, and their cognitive and affective interactions in communities have a significant, positive influence on creative transformation. In addition, work hope has played a role as a mediator between the interactions in communities and creative transformation. In Study II, teachers in communities of four typical cases funded for four years under the Project on the Enhancement of Creative Education are interviewed. Based on the data, there are several strategies for managing teacher communities: (1) witnessing strategy, (2) friendship strategy, (3) problem-solving strategy, (4) honor- sharing strategy, (5) low-profile strategy, (6) empowerment strategy, (7) sense of achievement strategy, (8) networking strategy, (9) flying geese strategy, and (10) sustaining strategy. Limitations of the current research and implications for the practice of teacher community were discussed.

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