THE ROLE OF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY IN SCHOOLS

The teaching staff of each school should form a Professional Learning Community (PLC). This concept refers to the focus on the cooperation between members of the organisation in order to achieve the common goals of developing the school (improvement of teaching and learning practices, engaging in joint research, evaluation of results etc.). Everything must start from the existence of a clear and convincing vision of what the organization should become and from the emphasis on a culture of learning for all. This research aimed to present the teachers' perception of these learning communities within schools and the role they fulfill in reality across the organisations. The instrument used in conducting the research was a questionnaire consisting of 30 multiple choice questions administered to teachers from high schools in Bihor county. The results obtained show that most teachers believe that teaching staffs do not always work as learning communities, that more work is still required to make them truly effective, and that the role of school headteachers is essential in this process. The more active, participatory and stimulative is the school leadership, the expected results can be obtained more effectively. The better collective and individual values blend, the more stimulative is teamwork for the individual, the higher performances will be achieved in schools. (C) 2017 Published by Future Academy