Drawing together the literature review, the focus group interviews and the conceptual framework, the consortium specified a set of learning outcomes for PLC facilitation. They described the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to promote and support Professional Learning Communities with a focus on inquiry and reflection, and formed the basis for the project’s activities and modular training. The document was published in a second, revised edition.
Purpose and Objectives
The learning outcomes translated the conceptual framework into a concrete competence profile. Rather than describing what facilitation involves in general terms, they defined what a facilitator should know, be able to do, and be committed to – making the framework usable for training design, for self-assessment by facilitators, and for the development of the project’s practical activities.
They were informed by the international literature research covering Austria, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Norway and Spain, by the empirical work with communities of practice, facilitators and leaders in those countries, and by the conceptual framework itself.
Methodology
The outcomes were structured along seven dimensions: relational, communication, collaborative, learning- and knowledge-building, reflection and inquiry, organisational, and digital. Each dimension was divided into two to three subdimensions – with the exception of reflection and inquiry, which carries seven, reflecting its central place in the project’s understanding of a PLC.
Every subdimension was then differentiated into three categories: knowledge, skills, and attitudes. The relational dimension, for instance, covers trust-building, group dynamics and conflict mediation; the reflection and inquiry dimension ranges from understanding inquiry as a process of professional learning, through collecting and interpreting data and providing constructive feedback, to the facilitator’s own self-analysis and Personal Learning Environment. The consortium noted that the subdimensions are not strictly separate categories and that some elements belong to more than one.
Conclusion and Implications
The differentiation into knowledge, skills and attitudes made explicit that facilitation cannot be reduced to technique. Alongside methodological competence, the outcomes formulate dispositions – commitment to ensuring every voice is heard, receptiveness to different perspectives, respect for diverse professional knowledge and beliefs, openness to self-critique – as part of the professional profile.
The weighting of the dimensions is itself a finding: with seven subdimensions, reflection and inquiry accounts for roughly a third of the profile. Equally notable is the inclusion of the facilitator’s own self-reflection as a learning outcome in its own right, and the treatment of digital competence as a distinct dimension rather than an add-on. Together, the seven dimensions provided the structure on which the guideline and the practical PLC activities were subsequently built.
The full set of learning outcomes is available as a PDF download in the Results section of our website.