On Wednesday 7 February the College launched the Professional Learning Communities (PLC) for 2024. The Professional Learning Communities have been designed to address several key goals and areas of improvement as identified within:

1. The College’s Strategic Plan 2020 – 2024
2. The 2021 School Improvement Framework (SIF) Review
3. Data conversations

This year, the PLC sessions will reflect the philosophy of Richard DuFour’s Professional Learning Communities at Work where staff will choose an area of focus, work collaboratively, and measure the impact of their practice with the aim to enhance student learning and outcomes. DuFour’s model is explained in more detail below.

What is a Professional Learning Community (PLC)?
An ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. Professional learning communities operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous job-embedded learning for educators.  Dr Richard Dufour

Steps of Dufour’s PLC cycle:

1. Gathering evidence of current levels of student learning
2. Developing strategies and ideas to build on strengths and address weaknesses in that learning.
3. Implementing those strategies and ideas
4. Analysing the impact of the changes to discover what was effective and what was not.
5. Applying new knowledge in the next cycle of continuous improvement

As part of the Professional Learning Community at Kilbreda College, Teaching and Learning Diversity staff will participate in an action research inquiry that addresses an area of focus informed by outcome and/or perception data, and the College’s school improvement goals. 

The Kildare Centre was abuzz as staff explored their area of focus and intended impact.

Staff are looking forward to completing the inquiry cycle and focusing on research, the multiple measures of data, embedding improvement strategies and working collaboratively to enhance student learning and outcomes.

Clare Kelly
Assistant Principal: Performance and Development