Relationship between enabling school structure, teachers' social network intentions and professional learning community

Abstract

This study aims to determine the relationships between enabling school structure, teachers' social network intentions and the professional learning community. This study used a structural equation modelling approach to investigate the relationships and implemented the appropriate sampling method. Survey data were obtained from 302 teachers working in the capital city of Turkey. Results show that teachers' perceptions of enabling school structure and social networking intentions among their colleagues are high, and their evaluations of forming a professional learning community are relatively low. When we examined the relationships between variables, we found a positive and moderate relationship between the enabling school structure and teachers' social network intentions; a positive and high relationship between the enabling school structure and the professional learning community. However, a positive but low level of a significant relationship is found between teachers' social network intentions and the professional learning community. Another significant result of the study is that the social network intentions of teachers increase with the enabling school structure. With the increase in social network intentions, the tendency to form a professional learning community also increases. Some suggestions were made for researchers and school communities in the research, both on becoming professional learners and creating better social networks.