Professional Learning Networks Among District Leaders: Advancing Collective Expertise and Equity-Oriented Leadership for Learning

• In Event: Professional Learning Networks: Facilitating Transformation in Diverse Contexts With Equity-Seeking Communities

Abstract

PLNs are becoming essential features of effective, innovative, and responsive school systems (Chapman & Muijs, 2014). In this paper we draw from a study with a team of BC district leaders who use inquiry as a primary means for shifting practice and supporting innovation and change to benefit all learners. Principles of equity drive the inquiry approach, including learner voice and shared agency, and the need to identify and dismantle systemic barriers. We argue that networking enables ways for districts to share emerging practices, engage in collective dialogue, draw from exemplary research and deeply reflect on impacts. In doing so, leaders build strong horizontal relational ties and professional capital that accelerates innovation between and among district leaders. Two specific cases develop a deeper understanding of how change is taken up and accelerated at the local level, providing examples of how inquiry networks operate across multiple sites and simultaneously seed and nurture innovative thinking anchored by principles of equity.

Authors

• Catherine McGregor, University of Victoria

• Linda Kaser, Networks of Inquiry and Indigenous Education

• Judy Lindsay Halbert, The University of British Columbia