Toward a Professional Learning Community

This article attempts to explore the concept of the professional learning community from the critical discourse perspective. Instead of viewing collective learning as being controlled by higher levels within the school hierarchy as a means to increase power, critical discourse seeks to uncover how power, knowledge, and truth are continuously being circulated through school discursive practices. Thus, critical discourse may provide a prism through which practitioners can become active participants in building learning communities based on professional practices. In this article, the notion of critical discourse is explained and then related to the concepts of power and truth. This is followed by Michel Foucault's methodological suggestions for critique. Lastly, the principal's role as viewed from the prism of critical discourse is discussed