In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Dr Aoife Brennan. Dr Brennan is Head of School at the School of Inclusive and Special Education in the Institute of Education, Dublin City University. Aoife has spent many years researching the impact of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) on inclusive practice. Aoife begins this podcast by discussing the overall timeline of her research and how, from doctoral level, she has continued her investigations in this area. This episode first draws on Aoife’s recently published paper titled “Teachers’ experiences of transformative professional learning to narrow the values practice gap related to inclusive practice”. The paper stems from a desire to improve the confidence of teachers to meet the diversity of needs of all learners. The paper identifies PLCs as a tool for providing meaningful and transformative development in this area. The study showed that the PLC helped to enhance teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion, enhanced their efficacy, their ability to enact inclusive practices, and their collaboration with one another. When the study ended, questions arose, such as: does the impact last? how can we sustain the learning? A follow-on intervention found that a culture of collaboration had developed from the PLC, which lasted over time. The second part of the episode focuses on Aoife’s current research project which broadens out the scope of the PLC, bringing in new schools (including primary and post-primary) and participation from a wider range of staff (e.g. SNAs). This project, funded by the Teaching Council, found that teachers viewed PLCs were a safe space that facilitated collaboration and collegial support around problems of practice. Finally, Aoife speaks about an upcoming comparative study which examines the links between face-to-face and online professional learning communities.

You can read Dr Brennan’s paper titled: “Teachers’ experiences of transformative professional learning to narrow the values practice gap related to inclusive practice” here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0305764X.2021.1965092

To find out more about Dr Brennan and her work, you can view her academic profile here: https://www.dcu.ie/inclusiveandspecialeducation/people/aoife-brennan

You can also find Aoife on Twitter @aoifebren123