Global Perspectives on Developing Professional Learning Communities

This book discusses distinctive features of the professional learning community concept, practices and processes across six different education systems in the Asia-Pacific region, namely Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, and the United States. It provides a platform for an exchange of different perspectives and offers alternative possibilities of theorizing professional learning communities across different socio-cultural contexts. Contributors provide valuable insights for policy makers, education researchers and educators in the Asia-Pacific region and elsewhere to deal with critical questions about the improvement of teaching and learning and school improvement in a globalizing world. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Asia Pacific Journal of Education.

Introduction: Professional learning communities: research and practices across six educational systems in the Asia-Pacific regionNicholas Sun-Keung Pang and Ting Wang 1.School leadership and professional learning community: case study of two senior high schools in Northeast ChinaTing Wang 2. Investigating the development of professional learning communities: compare schools in Shanghai and Southwest ChinaJia Zhang and Nicholas Sun-Keung Pang 3. Educational reforms and the practices of professional learning community in Hong Kong primary schoolsNicholas Sun-Keung Pang, Ting Wang and Zoe Lai-Mei Leung 4. Factors that develop effective professional learning communities in TaiwanPeiying Chen, Che-Di Lee, Hongda Lin and Chun-Xi Zhang 5. The emerging landscape of school-based professional learning communities in South Korean schoolsMoosung Lee and Jihyun Kim 6. Facilitation for professional learning community conversations in SingaporeHairon Salleh 7. Professional learning community process in the United States: conceptualization of the process and district support for schoolsDianne F. Olivier and Jane B. Huffman

Nicholas Sun-Keung Pang is Professor of the Department of Educational Administration and Policy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. He is also the Director of the Hong Kong Centre for the Development of Educational Leadership (HKCDEL). Professor Pang specializes in educational administration, management and leadership, as well as school effectiveness and improvement. He is a sought after presenter and keynote speaker, and has published widely, locally and internationally, with five books, as well as numerous book chapters and internationally refereed journal articles. Ting Wang is Professor and Program Director, International Education, Leadership, Development at the Faculty of Education, Science, Technology and Mathematics, University of Canberra, Australia. She specializes in educational leadership and management, school leadership and professional learning communities, cross-border educational leadership development, international and transnational education. She has published extensively and presented nationally and internationally. She is affiliated with Beijing Normal University as a High End Foreign Expert Awarded by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, China. She is also affiliated with Hangzhou Normal University as a Qianjiang Distinguished Scholar awarded by Hangzhou Municipal Government in China.