Influence of Professional Learning Community (PLC) on secondary science teachers’ culture of professional practice: The case of Bangladesh

Professional learning communities (PLCs) emerge as a collective framework for professional learning within the context of a cohesive group that focuses on collective knowledge of inquiry (DuFour, DuFour, & Eaker, 2008; Stoll & Louis, 2007). PLCs work to improve the practice of particular groups of teachers through job-embedded learning. A PLC consists of a group of people who take “an active, reflective, collaborative, learning-oriented and growth-promoting approach toward both the mysteries and the problems of teaching and learning” (Mitchell & Sackney, 2001, p. 2). A PLC is also defined in terms of an “educator’s commitment to working collaboratively in ongoing processes of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve” (DuFour, et al., 2008, p. 14). In essence, a PLC is explicitly a place where caring, responsible people nourish others’ learning in the context of authentic interactions (Manzaro, 2003; Miller, 2000).

In general, members of a PLC need access to collaboration, continuing leadership support, information, and their colleagues (Roberts & Pruitt, 2003). Clearly then, a highly directive leadership style and lack of meaningful opportunities to engage in learning activities can limit the capacity of schools to become learning organizations in the form of a PLC (Lashway, 1997). Research indicates that the nature of schools as organizations typically do not encourage shared thinking; rather, teachers are generally free to make their own instructional decisions (Roberts & Pruitt, 2003). Moreover, teachers’ isolation, lack of time, and the complexity of teaching present barriers to their continued professional learning (Lashway, 1997). However, school based professional learning communities can support and motivate teachers and encourage them to overcome problems associated with a lack of resources, isolation, time constraints and other obstacles they commonly encounter (Kruse, et al., 1994). PLCs offer teachers the possibility to connect with one another within and across the school in order to improve students’ learning outcomes and their own professional learning (Roberts & Pruitt, 2009).

Problem of the study

It is a common experience of stakeholders that sharing knowledge and pedagogical experience is not part of a common culture among practicing science teachers in their schools in Bangladesh and that collegiality is typically lacking (Hossain, 2000). The country of Bangladesh, in which the research reported in this paper was conducted, is no exception. I illustrate this point through the following anecdotal example. In a school in Bangladesh, there were two secondary science teachers, Mr. Ahmed and Mr. Rahim (pseudonyms). They were responsible for teaching in grade seven and eight respectively. One day, Mr. Rahim noticed that he could not explain the concept of ‘Total Internal Reflection’ to his grade eight students so Mr. Rahim decided to ask his colleague Mr. Ahmed to explain this concept to him. Their conversation went as follows:

Mr. Rahim: Hello, I would like to discuss with you about some subject matter. I am facing difficulty in explaining to my students.

Mr. Ahmed: No problem! I know that I am busy today, we will discuss it tomorrow.

Mr. Rahim: It’s Ok. Thanks

In the meantime, Mr. Ahmed complained to other colleagues including the Head teacher about Mr. Rahim’s lack of subject matter knowledge. Mr. Rahim heard about this complaint and decided not to go to Mr. Ahmed to discuss the subject matter. Like Mr. Rahim, in many cases science teachers are confronted by the problem of explaining content properly to their students, but they find very little support for collaborating with others.

This type of incident works as an obstacle to sharing. It is also a very sensitive issue in relation to the image of the teacher in the Bangladeshi context. This type of image, as a content expert, is then a disincentive for teachers to observe each other’s classes or to reflect on their practice in any public manner. In most cases, they do not share their knowledge with others. However, paradoxically, I found the teachers in this study enthusiastic to learn new knowledge and share with each other in the training sessions that I conducted as trainer. They also expressed a desire to change their school culture for their professional practice to enhance their teaching for better student learning. These experiences of listening to science teachers shaped my concerns for science teaching and learning in Bangladesh and impacted what I wanted to do, how and why as a science teacher educator in my country.

Purpose and Research Questions

The present study thus offers an exploration of how secondary science teachers’ learning in a professional learning community influences the ways in which participant teachers learn about, and develop their practice. To address this issue, this paper sets two research questions. These are,

To what extent do participant science teachers engage in a Professional Learning Community?

How can establishing a Professional Learning Community influence the ways in which these teachers learn about, and develop, their practice?