School Culture and Professional Learning Communities: An Overview

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School Culture and Professional Learning
Communities An Overview

• 2008
• Dr. Kent D. Peterson
• University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 1025 W. Johnson Street
• Madison, WI 53706
• kpeterson_at_education.wisc.edu

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Culture is a powerful force that exists in any
organization in which people share some history.
It develops as people work together, solve
problems, cope with conflicts, achieve
successes, and deal with tragedy.
(Schein, 1985 Deal and Peterson, 2002)
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Positive Culture is Important

• Influences how staff think, feel, act
• Affects focus, commitment, motivation, learning
• Encourages and deepens professional learning
• Promotes long-term organizational health
• Supports and enhances school improvement

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Elements of Culture

• Norms, Values and Beliefs that underlie thinking,
  feeling and acting
• Symbols and Artifacts that Communicate Meaning
• Stories that Herald Values
• Cultural Network
• Heroes and Heroines
• Rituals, Traditions, and Ceremonies
• Culture is the way we do things around here!

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Professional Learning Communities

• Shared Sense of PurposeTeacher Involvement in
  Decision MakingCollaborative Work for
  Improvement
• A Sense of Joint Responsibility for the
  Outcomes of Teaching
• Norms of Improvement, Performance, Inquiry, Trust
• Professional Learning for All
• (Kruse Louis Lambert DuFour others)

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Professional Learning Communitiesand School
Culture
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Improve PLCs by Deepening the Culture and
Healing Toxic Cultures
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Elements of Culture

• Norms, Values and Beliefs that underlie thinking,
  feeling and acting
• Symbols and Artifacts that Communicate Meaning
• Stories that Herald Values
• Cultural Network
• Heroes and Heroines
• Rituals, Traditions, and Ceremonies
• Culture is the way we do things around here!

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Key Roles of Cultural Leaders

• READ the Culture Historian and
  AnthropologistASSESS the Culture Analyst and
  EvaluatorREINFORCE or TRANSFORM the
  Culture Visionary, Symbol, Potter, Poet, Actor,
  and Healer (Deal and Peterson, 1994 1999)

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Key Questions to Ask

• What is my school culture?
• How well is it functioning?
• How can I nurture the positive elements and heal
  the toxic ones?

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Schools will never get better on
accountability and structures alone. We must
also have school cultures that make it possible
for every teacher to make a difference and every
child to learn!