ISSN: 2226-6348
Open access
Professional learning communities contribute greatly to teacher professionalization and school improvement. The purpose of the study was to examine the patterns of professional learning communities (PLCs) in the National-type Chinese Primary Schools (NCPSs) in Perak, Malaysia. A total of 630 head teachers, senior assistants and teachers completed the survey with usable data. The result revealed that, i) the NCPSs achieved the level of Quite Good in PLCs, in its two dimensions of Organization Factor and Non-Organizational Factor as well as its eight sub-dimensions; ii) the NCPSs achieved a higher mean score in Organization Factor than Non-Organizational Factor of PLCs and the difference was significant; iii) among all the sub-dimensions of PLCs, the NCPSs achieved the highest mean score in Head Teacher’s Commitment and Support; iv) among all the sub-dimensions of PLCs, the NCPSs achieved the lowest mean score in External Support System. The results indicated that the NCPSs in Perak needed to improve the implementation of PCLs so as to be effective in addressing school reforms.
Ackerman, R. H., & Mackenzie, S. V. (2006). Uncovering teacher leadership. Educational
Leadership, 6(8), 66–71.
Barth, R. S. (1990). Improving schools from within: teachers, parents and principals
can make the difference. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Bauman, C. (2015). A refreshing perspective on teacher leadership: How teacher leaders
effectively combine the use of autonomy and collaboration to enhance school improvement. Leading and Managing, 21(2), 46–59.
Beachum, F., & Dentith, A. M. (2004). Teacher leaders creating cultures of school renewal and
transformation. The Educational Forum, 68(3), 276-286, doi:10.1080/00131720 40898
4639
Billett, S. (2009). Conceptualizing learning experiences: Contributions and mediations of the
social, personal and brute. Mind, Culture and Activity, 16, 32-47. Doi:
10.1080/10749030802477317
Chapman, J. D. (2005). Recruitment, retention, and development of school principals (Education
Policy Series). Paris: UNESCO.
Cordingley, P. (2015). The contribution of research to teachers’ professional learning and
development. Oxford Review of Education, 41 (2), 234–252.
doi:10.1080/03054985.2015.1020105
Cowan, D., Joyner, S., & Beckwith, S. (2012). Getting serious about the system: A field book for
district and school leaders. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Darling-Hammond, L., Hyler, M.E., & Gardner, M. (2017). Effective teacher professional
development. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute
Desimone, L. M. (2009). Improving impact studies of teachers’ professional development:
Toward better conceptualizations and measures. Educational Researcher, 38(3), 181-199.
DuFour, R., & Eaker, R. (1998). Professional learning communities at work: Best practices for
enhancing student achievement. Bloomington, IN: National Education Service.
Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. (1981). Structural equation models with unobservable variables and
measurement error: Algebra and statistics. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(August), 382-388.
Fraenkel, J. R., & Wallen, N. E. (2009). How to design and evaluate research in education (3rd
ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Galland, C. (2008). Effective teacher leadership: A quantitative study of the relationships
between school structures and effective teacher leaders. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis,
University of Missouri, Columbia.
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate data analysis: A
global perspective. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Hairon, S. (2016). Facilitation for professional learning community conversations in Singapore.
Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 36(2), 285-300, doi:10.1080/02188791.2016.1148855
Hairon, S., & Dimmock, C. (2012). Singapore schools and professional learning communities:
Teacher professional development and school leadership in an Asian hierarchical system. Educational Review, 64(4), 405–424.
Hargreaves, E., & Elhawary, D. (2019). Professional development through mutually respectful
relationship: senior teachers’ learning against the backdrop of hierarchical relationships’, Professional Development in Education, 45(1), 46-58. doi: org/10.1080/19415257.
2018.1500390
Harris, A. (2010). Leading system transformation. School Leadership and Management, 30(30),
197–207.
Harris, A., Jones, M., & Huffman, J. B. (2018). Teachers leading educational reform: The
power of professional learning communities. London, UK: Routledge.
Hipp, K. K., & Huffman, J. B. (2010). Demystifying the concept of professional learning
communities. In K. K. Hipp & J. B. Huffman (Eds.), Demystifying professional learning communities: School leadership at its best (pp. 11–22). New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield Education.
Holmes-Smith, P. (2001). Introduction to Structural Equation Modelling using LISREAL. Perth:
ACSPRI-Winter Training Program.
Hord, S. (1997). Professional learning communities: Communities of continuous inquiry and
improvemen
In-Text Citation:(Kin, Kareem, & Musa, 2019)
To Cite this Article: Kin, T. M., Kareem, O. A., & Musa, K. bin. (2019). Examining Professional Learning Communities in National-Type Chinese Primary Schools in Perak, Malaysia. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 8(2), 428–448.
Copyright: © 2019 The Author(s)
Published by Human Resource Management Academic Research Society (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode