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Enhancing cognitive presence in teachers’ professional learning communities via reflective practice

ABSTRACT The effectiveness of professional learning communities (PLCs) in schools depends significantly on the extent of fostering teacher learning. In this explanatory case study, 16 female teachers from a girls’ high school in Saudi Arabia joined a reflective practice programme where they engaged in collaborative inquiry to solve a problem in their work. The study sought to understand how reflective practice enhances the cognitive presence levels, namely triggering event; exploration; integration and resolution, in a teacher’s PLC. Data sources included transcripts of face-to-face and online discussions and focus group interviews. Analysis of discussions revealed that the participants were capable of movement through the four levels of cognitive presence, reaching the higher levels in which knowledge is built and applied. Interviews analyses generated four themes indicating factors that contribute to the emergence of higher levels of cognitive presence during the reflective practice programme. These factors comprise focus on experience and real practice, long-term training in the school context, social cohesion and the facilitator’s role. This study provides evidence for the potential of reflective practice to support teachers’ learning in PLCs. At the same time, it calls for further research on effective methods that facilitators of reflective practice use to prompt this learning.