The observed impact of teachers’ capacities on learning community implementation: A participant- observer case study Sonya Pancucci, Doctoral Candidate, MEd (Admin), BEd, BSc (Psych), BSc (Biol)

KEY RESEARCH QUESTION: How do teachers capacities and competencies inform and sustain learning community implementation?

METHODOLOGY: A qualitative methodology employing case study research design was used. A participant-observer method was adopted because it facilitated in-depth information gathering, which provided thick descriptions for my case.

LEARNING COMMUNITY MODEL OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Sparks (2005) suggests that well- implemented professional learning communities are a powerful means of seamlessly blending teaching and professional learning in ways that produce complex, intelligent behaviour in all teachers (p. 2).

LEARNING COMMUNITY AS PREFERRED MODEL FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Hord (2001) and Mitchell & Sackney (2001) would suggest that the choice professional development model in schools to achieve this goal of improved teaching practice is the learning community.

CHALLENGES WITH A LEARNING COMMUNITY MODEL: The process of implementing learning communities is difficult and challenging work. Currently, the literature does not address in any detail the problems teachers face in this process. My work attempts to address this gap in the literature by answering the question: How do teachers’ capacities and competencies inform learning community implementation? I am building a framework of how to use teachers’ capacities to implement and sustain learning communities.

Mitchell and Sackney (2000) LEARNING COMMUNITY MODEL: Mitchell and Sackney’s (2000) learning community model suggests that teachers’ capacities are the key to enhancing the practice of teachers, which in turn improves learning for students.

Pancucci (2008) LEARNING COMMUNITY MODEL: The Pancucci (2008) model for learning communities varies from the original intent of Mitchell and Sackney’s (2000) model because the model examines teachers’ personal capacity as exhibited through the expression of professional competencies (individual teacher characteristics), interpersonal competencies (qualities held by groups of teachers), and organizational competencies (characteristics demonstrated by teachers as they work within and adapt school system structures and processes). In addition, the Pancucci (2008) model extends on their model to create a framework for implementation at the school level.