Northwest Rural School Teacher Professional Learning Community Research

Nowadays educational reform is developing furtherly, teachers are required to have more professional qualities. However, teachers of rural secondary schools in north-west are under great pressure due to the burden of life, harsh working environment and shortage of professional guildence. Along with the simpleness of teachers’training model, the development of teachers of rural secondary schools in north-west is lagging behind the other districts. So how to realize their healthy development has become a significant factor which influnces the improvement of rural educational reform as well as teaching quality.Meanwhile, with the enhancement of ecological consciousness in educational research field, professional learning community (PLC) has aroused huge concern, it places teachers’ professional development in a wider background, pays attention to teachers’ collaborative as well as cultural revolution, today’s relevant down-to-earth research mainly focus on rich region and city schools, so is there any possibility that PLC can be applied in rural schools of northwest region? What stage is PLC in now? How can we improve it under the situations we have? The research goes along the following clues:theorical research——investigation——improvements.The paper adopts research methods including literature, questionnaires and interviews. Firstly we use literature method to determine the connotation, feature and theory basis of PLC; secondly analysis the relationship between professional learning community and teachers’ professional development from macro educational perspective, which aims to explain that professional learning community (PLC) are the power of teachers’ professional development; thirdly Analyze the relationship between professional learning community (PLC) and effective teaching from micro educational perspective, which aims to explain that teachers’ professional learning communities are the guarentee of teaching’s effectiveness. All of the analysis above leads to a conclusion: PLC is the combination of visible orgnizational activities and invisible cultural atomosphere, which includes group learning(like training), and individual learning(like teaching reflection); its smooth function needs peer collaboration as well as professional guidance.In practical research part we choose teachers from three rural schools as research samples. Based on the theoriotical research and Hord’s definition of PLC, The questionnaire covers research fileds like training, teaching reflection, peer collaboration as well as professional guidance. Combined with sound recording of12teachers, we found following exsisting problems:1.reasons behind the simple learning methods——barriers of system and mechanism;2.reasons behind the restriction of reflction——constration of teachers’ level;3. reasons behind the formalism of peer collaboration——lack of collaborative culture;4. reasons behind the inefficiency of professional guidance——gap between theory and practice;5. reasons behind teachers’occupation burnout——lack of administrative support.To improve these situations, On the micro perspective, we should focus on school staff and resources, headmaster should play a promoting effect, excellent teacher should play a demonstrational role, and common teachers should play as main body. On the macro perspective, teachers of the whole shool should form the same goal, school-based research should be promoted to cultivate collaborative culture among teachers, professional guidance should be diverse and equal, and we should also lead the system towards perfection.