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01/09/2014

On August 27 and 28 FS DOE with support from VVOB organised a workshop on Professional Learning Communities (PLCs).  Subject advisors foundation phase, subject advisors intermediate phase for mathematics, subject advisor coordinators, staff and centre heads from the District Teacher Development Centres (DTDCs) in Free State Province participated The workshop was co-facilitated by VVOB and Jika Communication and Training.

The workshop was the first in a series of four workshops on PLCs.  Its main objective was to equip participants with ideas and skills to set up school-based PLCs within their districts.  Activities focused on developing a vision and mission for the PLC, generate trust among participants, creating a poster to advertise the PLC, generate some quick wins in the form of low-cost teaching resources for maths and discussing the role of PLCs within teachers’ professional development.  Participants also reflected on criteria for successful professional development.  The workshop took the form of a train-the-trainers outline with activities that participants can use directly with the teachers they support.  It included discussions on the rationale of each activity.

As participants were engaging in facilitation skills for PLCs, they identified possible barriers and tried to find solutions to them.  The workshop was successful in empowering participants in dealing with quite some barriers related to knowledge, skills and attitudes of teachers. Working with PLCs is a methodology which intends to trigger learning among peers. As such it is a way to improve the current support of subject advisors and DTDCstaff to teachers, rather than an add-on to their tasks. However, it requires a deep understanding of underlying principles such as constructivism and self-directed learning.  Finally, some issues related to time, budget and transport still require explicit attention in policy implementation at national and provincial levels. 

PLCs are put forward in the Integrated Strategic Framework for Teacher Education and Development (ISPFTED) 2011-2025 as a central instrument to strengthen teachers’ professional development.  PLCs at school level will be supported by the National Institute for Curriculum and Professional Development (NICPD) at national level, the Provincial Teacher Development Institutes (PTDIs) and the District Teacher Development Centres (DTDCs).  This series of workshops serves as a pilot for the implementation of Activity 3.3 (on PLCs) in the ISPFTED and they can be repeated later in other provinces.

This workshop was repeated on 3 and 4 September for the Thabo Mofutsanyane and Fezile Dhabi districts.  Similar possible barriers to the successful implementation of PLCs in schools and districts were raised by participants.

The second workshop in the series on PLCs will take place on 25-26 September and 1-2 October.

Pictures from the workshop in Bloemfontein (27-28/8/2014) are available here and pictures from the workshop in Bethlehem (3-4/9/2014) are available here.