The Professional Learning Communities. An Strategy of Improvement for the New School Conception

To transform the school in a Professional Learning Community (CPA) is one of the newest and more successful improvement strategies of the recent years. Its very own nature invites to review and transform the traditional conception of school, seeking to enhance learning throughout the school community by means of collaboration and mutual support, aiming to improve the students learning processes. The CPA are definitely a reform tool that nourishes from factors such as pedagogical and distributed leadership, collaborative work culture, professional development based on the students learning needs, inquiry and the reflection on practice and systematic work with evidence, among others. This article seeks to unravel the complexity of this concept through an historical review to retrieve the theoretical background of the term. Furthermore, the article describes its main characteristics, performance and necessary conditions to promote and sustain this improvement strategy. Finally, it emphasizes the importance of leadership facing the development of the CPA and the impact that the same generate over the educative practices.