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

Research shows that schools are largely a professional solo cultures (Blossing 2014), which impede teachers' professional development as learning takes place in social interaction and through living-practice dilemmas (Wenger 1998/2004). Changing cultures is difficult, not least in the world of education that on the whole has been a solo culture since the establishment of convent schools.The purpose of this study is to investigate whether teachers believe that through professional collaboration in the form of Teacher Learning Community (TLC) has contributed their knowledge and compentence in the field of embedding formative assessment. TLC is a sort of community of practice for improve teaching. The study works according to the hypothesis that “Teachers believe that professional collaboration in the form of Teacher Learning Community (TLC) has contributed to their knowledge and expertise in the field of embedding formative assessment”. The study was conducted at a large secondary school in central Sweden which organized its collegial learning according to TLC and exclusively worked to develop and modify instruction regarding embedding formative assessment during five years before the study. The theoretical approach applied is based on the tradition of "school improvement" with a human relational and group dynamic organizational based on social-constructivism) (Schein, 1994; Giddens, 1984; Wenger 1998/2004; Schmuck & Runkel, 1994; Blossing 2008; Scherp 1998). The study is quantitative and was conducted using a questionnaire, processed through a factor analysis, that is, a multivariate analysis. The analysis was conducted in four stages: stage 1: factor analysis to reduce factors exceeding the value of 1; step 2: categorization of all questions related to the component; step 3: measurement of the homogeneity of issues with Cronbach's Alpha; step 4: hypothesis testing in Person. The correlation was 0,686 (p<0,001). This is a so called census survey and the high response rate gave the study high validity. The study concluded that it is possible to change a school's historic solo culture to a collaborative team culture through systematic collegial cooperation in the form of TLC, and as a result to change the current teaching patterns.