Salleh Hairon

Singapore schools and professional learning communities: teacher professional development and school leadership in an Asian hierarchical system

While the literature on professional learning communities (PLCs) has proliferated, much of it derived from and contextualised in Anglo-American settings, the concept and practice of PLCs in Asian contexts of strong hierarchies have largely been ignored. Based on literature and documentary analysis, this paper investigates the systemic implementation of PLCs in Singapore schools. The authors seek to show first how policy developments have in effect been laying the seedbed for PLCs for some 13 years, and yet evidence suggests that teacher pedagogy has been slow to change. Secondly, Singapore educational cultural and institutional contexts are reviewed to reveal how they mediate and filter “Western” notions of PLCs. Three potential implementation difficulties are identified – high teacher workloads, ambiguity of PLC processes and their efficacy, and hierarchical system and workplaces. Conclusions and implications emphasise the importance of effective school leadership in developing PLC practices, and how societal culture and context fundamentally shape the form that PLCs take.

Pursuing the elusive construct of distributed leadership Is the search over

Distributed leadership is one of the most prominent contemporary leadership theories in education. Its attraction in education is perhaps due to its potential to bring about school improvement. A review of the literature, however, reveals broadness in the way the construct is being conceptualized and operationalized; thus making it elusive. The elusive nature of distributed leadership could be down to the lack of attempts to unpack and measure this construct, and/or because of the contested definition of the term ‘leadership’ itself. The purpose of this article is to elucidate this construct by addressing possible dimensionality issues. To do this, exploratory factor analysis was performed using Rasch (linearized) standardized residuals to examine the factor structure of distributed leadership. The analysis provided a lucid interpretation of the data to build a theoretical (measurement) model of distributed leadership. The distributed leadership instrument consists of 25 items, and the sample involved 1,232 schools leaders from Singapore. The findings indicated the presence of four possible factors of distributed leadership which include bounded empowerment, developing leadership, shared decision and collective engagement.

Teacher Leadership Enactment in Professional Learning Community Contexts: Towards a Better Understanding of the Phenomenon.

Professional learning communities (PLCs) have gained considerable attention in education. However, PLCs are dependent on how group members collectively work and learn towards shared goals on improving teaching and learning. This would require leadership to support meaningful and productive interactions within PLC contexts, and hence, the importance of teacher leaders. In this article, we report on an ethnographic case study involving three PLCs investigating how teacher leadership supports PLC conversations using an intervention framework provided by the research team. The findings showed that teacher leadership has potential in supporting PLC conversations along three dimensions of its construct.

A research agenda for professional learning communities: moving forward

Professional learning communities (PLCs) as a means of raising the teaching profession are becoming more attractive in education systems seeking to improve school improvement processes and outcomes. The main intention is to increase the individual and collective capacity of teachers so as to support school-wide capacity for teaching and learning. Although international research on PLCs is relatively extensive, covering about three decades, there are still gaps in its research base; specifically on the concept of community and the effects of PLCs. In this article, we propose a research agenda for PLC research that will afford substantive theorization on PLCs which will need to be drawn from robust empirical evidence. In the proposed research agenda for PLCs, we first argue that a PLC is a multi-dimensional construct comprising three inter-dependent dimensions of ‘community’, ‘learning’ and ‘professional’. This precedential task is necessary before investigations on effects or impact (direct or indirect) of PLCs can be meaningfully and reliably carried out. We then propose a research framework for PLCs constituting three aspects: construct of PLCs; conditions–contexts of PLCs; and causalities of PLCs. Finally, we propose six aspects pertaining to methodological rigor to support PLC research.

Professional learning communities in Singapore and Shanghai: implications for teacher collaboration

Abstract Professional learning communities (PLCs) have been recognised as having the potential to raise the quality of teachers, teaching and student learning through structured teacher collaboration, and have been featured prominently in Singapore and Shanghai – both considered top-performing Asian societies in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). Although embedded in education systems that are considered centralised, there are still significant differences. Drawing out key implications from the experiences of Singapore and Shanghai, this paper highlights the potential challenges in implementing PLCs. These challenges include heavy teacher workload, ambiguities in the understanding and implementation of PLCs, and hierarchical work structures. The discussions emanating from the comparison between Singapore and Shanghai PLCs seek to contribute towards the international literature on fostering teacher collaboration through PLCs, which has been predominantly Western-centric.

Global conceptualization of the professional learning community process: transitioning from country perspectives to international commonalities

Global conceptualization of the professional learning community process: Transitioning from country perspectives to international commonalities Abstract The authors seek to find common PLC structures and actions among global educational systems to enhance understanding and practice. Six international researchers formed the Global Professional Learning Community Network (GloPLCNet), conducted literature reviews of each country’s involvement with PLC actions, and noted similarities and common practices among the school improvement initiatives in five countries. Major constructs were identified, research was conducted (interviews and observations), and themes emerged. A literature review of the constructs led to outcomes. A definition of the Global PLC process, revision of constructs, and further clarification of descriptors were established. External influencing factors were also identified as essential. Finally the awareness that the PLC reculturing effort is guided and influenced by the phases of change was noted. The following are conclusions and implications. In an interdependent world, we recognize the importance of considering viewpoints of multiple global systems. An inclusive knowledge base can develop which prepares educators and citizens for more collaborative international understanding. These conclusions can lead to changes in practice at the school and middle level (district, city, province), and policy changes at the state, province, and national levels.

Distributed leadership to support PLCs in Asian pragmatic Singapore schools

Professional learning communities (PLCs) have gained considerable attention in many countries, including Singapore. The central motivation behind PLCs is school-based curriculum development for twenty-first-century outcomes. However, the functioning of PLCs requires a transformation in the way school leaders work and relate to teachers in order to sustain teachers’ willingness to participate in teacher-initiated collaborative learning leading to improvements in classroom practices and student learning outcomes. It is postulated that a more distributed nature of leadership is necessary to bring about this transformation. However, the looseness and broadness of the concept on distributed leadership pose a threat to this transformative potential. Hence, the need to tease out its conceptual dimensions. From key literature, three dimensions emerged: empowerment, interactive relations for shared decisions and developing leadership. Nevertheless, these dimensions need to be sensitive to the Asian Singapore context, namely the value for hierarchy and economic pragmatism. Nation states around the world, including Singapore, are endeavouring to reform their education systems in order to successfully compete in the global economy (Carnoy, 1999). With human capital as Singapore’s primary resource, it is unsurprising that the state has placed great emphasis on strengthening the economic–education nexus. This tight nexus along with its instrumentalist view of the purpose of education underpins both the social and economic development that has taken Singapore from a Third to First World state in a little more than 40 years

Curriculum, Leadership and Religion in Singapore Schools: How a Secular Government Engineers Social Harmony and the ‘State Interest’

This chapter analyses the place of religion across the landscape of Singapore school curricula, leadership and policy making. In so doing, it first provides a social, political, economic and demographic context to Singapore as a small multi-ethnic, multi-faith island republic. Its strongly authoritarian and secular government prioritizes the twin goals of social harmony and a workforce equipped with the skills to be a leading global twenty-first century, knowledge-based economy. Education is seen instrumentally by the government as a crucial vehicle to meeting both goals. Thus, the central argument is that for a large majority of the 360 schools in the system, there is no place for religion in the curriculum, since it is regarded as potentially divisive to social harmony; rather, social, moral and citizenship (National) education are emphasized for their apparent greater congruence with the government’s twin goals. However, such government policy creates tensions for the Malay-Muslim minority, some of whom prefer their children to be educated in madrasahs, of which there are currently six. A dichotomy thus exists for such schools between the desire for an Islamic religious education and the government’s priority for a modern academic curriculum. The chapter identifies the various ways in which the government manages such tensions to engineer the ‘state interest’, and the premium placed on skilful leadership at all levels to navigate and finesse the sensitive boundaries between faith and state.

Negotiating the School Curriculum for the Malay Muslims in Singapore

This chapter examines how the Malay Muslim community in Singapore negotiated their objective situation and their subjective everyday practices in the school curriculum. We begin with a brief historical survey of the Malay Muslims in Singapore and their schooling experiences during the colonial period under the British. This is followed by an analysis of how they negotiated their curriculum since Singapore’s self-government from the British in the late 1950s. The next section focuses on current efforts to ‘modernise’ the madrasah curriculum, with a case study of the recent changes that have taken place in one madrasah in Singapore. The chapter ends with some observations about the negotiation processes and outcomes for the Malay Muslims as well as the prospects for madrasahs in Singapore.

Education Reform in China: Toward Classroom Communities

ABSTRACT Focusing on China’s current education reform, this article critically discusses how contextual factors, specifically sociocultural factors and resources, assist and constrain Chinese educators in their attempt to develop dynamic and inviting classroom communities. Three main findings are highlighted in this article, the first being that the creation of classroom communities is perceived by Chinese educators to be beneficial to the students. Secondly, Chinese educators judiciously rely on existing professional learning communities to experiment with and launch classroom communities. The third finding foregrounds two key challenges faced by educators. The first challenge is the difficulty with fostering classroom communities in the poorer parts of China where schools perennially struggle with huge class size and inadequate educational support. The second key challenge is a predominantly exam-centric culture that inhibits the flourishing of classroom communities for effective teaching and learning. The experience in China illustrates the moderating effects of local conditions in shaping the evolving concept and practice of classroom community.