What are Professional Learning Communities?

Introduction

Supervision is a very important step in any given organization. It pilots success and improves problem-solving and mitigation strategies. It is a developmental process. Developmental supervision campaigns for the empowerment of teachers and other relevant information givers, to enable a society of sound decision-making cultures. On its own, developmental supervision necessitates the need for growth in terms of information capacity and innovation capabilities. It facilitates professional development by increasing the instructional capabilities of information givers. Employers in all firms are required to embrace developmental supervision strategies to harbour effective and collaborative development in all instruction-based practices within the working environments. This paper seeks to evaluate instruction and professional learning communities. It will also reflect on a plan of how instructional practices and school-wide instructions can be improved by supervision, in an exclusive manner.

Approaches for developmental supervision

Directive control and directive informational

There are four approaches for developmental supervision which managers can employ. They all depend on the situation at hand. However, in some cases, leaders are required to demonstrate flexibility to the approaches since they yield productive results. First is the directive approach; this approach is mostly used for emergency situations. It is also used when teachers have minimum experience in instructional problems confronted in limited time situations. This approach transmits the expectations of the supervisors to the teachers in the clearest way possible. It has to do with the presentation, clarification, problem-solving, listening and standardizing teachers with the lines of authority (Glickman et al. 2001). Secondly, the directive informational approach enables the teacher to select valid options from a range of alternatives. The supervisor retains the responsibility of goal articulation and remains to be the main source of information for the ultimate decision-making. The supervisor demands the teacher's input and allows for the flexibility of operational choices by the teachers. The approach is used when the supervisor's experience outweighs the teachers.

Collaborative and non-directive

The collaborative approach is the most effective. It is used when the supervisors and the teachers have almost the same level of expertise. It is governed by collective collaboration between the supervisors and the teachers, with effective information sharing protocols. It is also nurtured by effective clarification, problem-solving, listening, standardizing and negotiating on the relevant perspectives. In some situations, teachers have more experience on the issues at hand than the supervisors (Brandon et al. 2018). These kinds of situations call for the nondirective approach. The supervisor helps the teachers to establish their plans by listening, encouraging, reflecting, clarifying and problem-solving techniques. In this approach, the supervisors should allow the teachers to head the meetings since they are the most informed. They should also withdraw their judgmental abilities in the conceptualization of the situation at hand. A supervisor should analyze the situations which they are confronted with to decide the most appropriate approach for the situation (Strieker 2016).

A professional learning community expounded

The future is promised by the present handling of situations. When the rampancy of drastic change is on the rise, the learners become the trigger of the future. Education is sought and schools hence the effectiveness of schools can be improved. By employing new and efficient problem-solving techniques, schools can be revolutionized to implement modern techniques for developmental purposes (Glickman 1981). Improvement of the school is vital to the improvement of its people. The need for a mission, vision, values and goals is crucial to the development of a school learning outcomes (Gurley et al. 2015). In a professional learning environment, it is not the students only that are tasked with the learning responsibility. The teachers, supervisors and parents as well are agents subject to learning. Mutual cooperation between these parties is crucial to the success of the entire school organization.

The role of educators

Professional educators form the basis of information transformation. They are tasked with the role of emphasizing learning. They advise, encourage and create positive attitudes in the learners on matters of learning. They make the learning process a rather enjoyable process, subject to the information acquaintance. They also collaborate with other parties in the learning environments to make sure that learners fully participate in the stipulated processes. They act as leaders in the learning environments with a specific focus on student performances as well as their production. Professional educators should understand the pillars of a professional learning standards: vision, mission, values and goals. Educators are also required to work with lesson plans; the roadmap to the syllabus coverage with a clear outline of how and when the educative process should be done. They should be able to align their personal goals with those of the school, to influence a healthy learning atmosphere.

Team-time creation

For productive supervision for developmental purposes, it is imperative that the team building skills in a school be emphasized. The school can be viewed as a centre of multi-participation of societal members including parents, learners, educators and supervisors. It should ensure the need for establishing functional teas with collaborative abilities for the mutual development of its member’s at all possible capacities. This can be achieved by involving paraprofessionals, involving parent volunteers, creative scheduling, team teaching etc. Team building should be purpose-oriented and well timed. Responsibility should be shared based on the level of expertise and experience and parties are required to accept responsibilities assigned to them. However, this depends on the type of environment provided by school supervisors.

Supervisory environments

In the article “ Guided paper on developmental supervision” Dea reports that supervisors have the responsibility of improving the performance of workers. Their supervisory roles are established based on supervision environments. Dea explains two environments subject to influences by the supervisory roles; controlling and informational environments. In a controlling environment, the supervisor provides little room for choice. The main aim is to gain compliance with the stipulations by the supervisor. This environment harbours resistance. Individual interest and curiosity are barely considered. On the flip side, the informational environment encourages autonomy by allowing individuals to choose from a wide range of alternatives of action. More importantly, this environment encourages improvement in decision making. Individuals are able to analyze the consequences of their strategies by themselves beside the feedbacks from their supervisors.

Meetings

Meetings are sessions for the discussion of various organizational concerns. Kokemuller explains that meetings provide the opportunity for managers and supervisors to monitor organizational activities, learning new strategies, solving problems, decision-making, communicating change etc. In school meetings, teachers are required to bring with them all the necessary information including data binders, for an effective demonstration of their perspectives on issues. For a professional learning community, meetings should be conducted on a regular bases. However, the participation of members is limited by the topic of discussions purported by the meeting objectives. There should be clearly stated agendas for the meeting. Note taking is an important activity for all participants including the supervisors (Ebersöhn et al. 2015). The main objectives of the meetings should also be upheld during the entire session. All participants should be given equal chances to participate in the meeting.

Conclusion

Conclusively, developmental supervision forms the basis of development in the education sector. With the dynamism of the modern world in regard to technology and operational standards, it is imperative that professional learning communities employ the most effective techniques to ensure the success of schools today. Proper and educated supervision will guarantee the success of schools in the modern world. The need for collaboration between the parties involved in learning communities is inevitable. To secure the future, schools should incline to the techniques of professional development.

References

Dea, M. (2016). GUIDED PAPER ON DEVELOPMENTAL SUPERVISION: CRITICAL REVIEW. International Journal For Research In Applied And Natural Science (ISSN: 2208-2085) , 2 (1), 56-69.

Ebersöhn, L., Loots, T., Eloff, I., & Ferreira, R. (2015). Taking note of obstacles research partners negotiate in long-term higher education community engagement partnerships. Teaching and Teacher Education , 45 , 59-72.

Glickman, C. D. (1981). Developmental Supervision: Alternative Practices for Helping Teachers Improve Instruction .

Glickman, C. D., Gordon, S. P., & Ross-Gordon, J. M. (2001). Supervision and instructional leadership: A developmental approach . Allyn & Bacon/Longman Publishing, a Pearson Education Company, 1760 Gould Street, Needham Heights, MA 02494. Web site: http://www. abacon.com.

Gurley, D. K., Peters, G. B., Collins, L., & Fifolt, M. (2015). Mission, vision, values, and goals: An exploration of key organizational statements and daily practice in schools. Journal of Educational Change , 16 (2), 217-242.

Kokemuller. N. (2017) “About workplace supervision” Chron.com Accessed at https://smallbusiness.chron.com/workplace-supervision-42926.html 

Strieker, T., Adams, M., Cone, N., Hubbard, D., & Lim, W. (2016). Supervision matters: Collegial, developmental and reflective approaches to supervision of teacher candidates. Cogent Education , 3 (1), 1251075.