The Impact of Participation in Professional Learning Communities on Physical Education Instructional Leaders

This study investigates the assessment of the physical education teachers and department chairpersons in five institutions in Hunan Province, China, about professional learning communities for physical education and their levels of participation. Stratified sampling was used to generate 187 P.E. teacher-respondents and 52 P.E. chairperson-respondents. Under the Quantitative Research Method, this study utilized weighted mean score and multiple regression to predict the variables in professional learning communities. Based on the findings, as for the profile of the respondents with the combined results from the P.E. teachers and P.E. chairpersons, the following emerged from the data: the age bracket of 41–45 has the highest number of respondents with a master’s degree, constituting 29.7%, the male respondents dominated the data with 64.9%, a total of 79.9% of the respondents are Master's Degree holders, and the length of service revealed 29.7% for 16 years and above. Five variables were tested in the study: professional commitment, strategic approaches, pedagogical and technological knowledge, supportive organizational teaching and learning environments, and professional ethics and standards. The combined mean scores of the two groups of respondents resulted in no significant difference in most of the variables and no significant relationship between the respondents’ assessment of professional learning communities and their level of participation. However, some indicators are not rated highly, and the study calls for a teacher development program. The five variables are considered predictors of the participation of the respondents in PLCs. Furthermore, all the variables are predictors in the professional development of physical education teachers. The strongest predictor is professional ethics and standards, followed by professional commitment. Physical education teachers can be motivated by their chairpersons to join seriously in PLCs to further enhance their capabilities in teaching physical education.