Abstract:
This paper reports on the ways in which professional learning groups in schools can contribute to whole school improvement. It discusses two sites in which there has been a review of the evidence that has been collected at the school or through the literature over time in order to explore the implications for the continuing improvement of teaching and learning. It has long been argued that there are links between school-wide development, staff development and classroom development for improvement to occur. In these studies, all three elements have been present. The paper discusses the strategies adopted for the creation of professional learning groups across the schools where those groups are structured in such a ways that they are founded upon learning that is evidence-based, visible and collaborative, and where the agreed purpose has been whole school improvement.