Context, school principals and professional learning communities in China: the case of educational group schools

Abstract

Purpose

This paper explores education group school principal’s influence on professional learning community (PLC) development in China.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative comparative case studies were conducted.

Findings

The findings show that principals indicated principal-level factors were their major concerns regarding PLC cultural condition design, school needs were the major concerns in PLCs’ relational and structural design, and educational-group factors impacted principals’ extension of PLCs’ structural conditions.

Originality/value

This article concludes by presenting a “three-context” framework for understanding education group principal’s influence on PLCs in China.

Citation

Ye, W. (2022), "Context, school principals and professional learning communities in China: the case of educational group schools", Journal of Professional Capital and Community, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 228-242. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPCC-08-2021-0045