Professional Learning Teams

Education is full of catch phrases and new models and programs come and go. Still in vogue are Professional Learning Communities (PLC) and more recently, Professional Learning Teams (PLT). These models of professional collaboration are very useful for schools, but too often, they are not done properly and as Dufour states, "the term has been used so ubiquitously that it is in danger of losing all meaning."

There are many misconceptions regarding PLTs and what they are and are not. To provide some clarity:

PLTs are Not

• a program to be implemented
• a meeting
• step-by-step recipe for change
• another thing added to a cluttered agenda

If you are familiar with flash mobs, you have probably seen this video of the T-Mobile flash mob at the Liverpool Street Station.

This is a metaphor for what can be accomplished when your school is a professional learning community or team. However, when you are in a situation where your school members are of the mentality that PLCs and PLTs are something that you do, your experience may be more like that of the guy from this AT&T commercial - doing your own thing and if you aren't careful, it may make you look foolish.

PLTs are a process that will change a school's culture, but it must be given time and importance in order for it to first become a part of the school culture and then it will begin to change the rest of the culture of the school.

Based on the Journey to Reflective Conversations session at Learning Forward 2011, presented by Alexis Holstead, Kim Wedman and Danielle Spencer - July 18, 2011 - Indianapolis, Indiana



Dufour, R. (2004). What is a “professional learning community”? Educational Leadership, 61(8), 6–11.