The Unfolding of a Professional Learning Community

This study focuses on the emergence of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) in a new international school in southern China with particular emphasis on the views of participants. Using a cross-sectional survey given to the founding faculty, repsondents provided rich qualitative data from which themes were gleaned about the emergence of distinct cultures in these developing PLCs. Dynamic systems operating at micro- and macro-levels in the initial stages of a newly formed PLC were discovered that have an impact on group development and the larger school culture. Practical considerations that may help administrators, teachers, and teacher-leaders in initializing the conditions for a PLC are also discussed