Disentangling the Toing and Froing of Professional Learning Community Implementation by Reconnecting Educational Policy with School Culture

Abstract

Professional Learning Community (PLC) is embedded in one of the Malaysian educational policies with the aim of improving teachers’ effectiveness. However, the robust empirical evidence upon this matter is scarce, especially in terms of the relationship between school culture and PLC. Therefore, a correlational design study conducted to examine the relationships between the school culture dimensions (Collaboration, Collegiality, Emphasis on Learning, Professional Value, Sharing Planning, Transformational Leadership) and PLC. A randomized controlled trial cluster involving 612 teachers has been conducted. The Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) using SmartPLS version 3 was applied to analyze the data. The result from SEM path analysis shows that only three constructs have significant influences on PLC, which are Professional Value (β:0.045); Sharing Planning (β:0.071), and Transformational Leadership (β:0.040). This study has gone some way towards enhancing the understanding of the importance of school culture in promoting teachers’ professional development through PLC.