Professional learning communities are promising for teacher learning and improving the quality of education. In the past decade, there has been a shift in focus from within-school to cross-school PLCs: Professional Learning Networks. Knowledge of the underlying working processes of teacher learning in PLNs is scarce. This is even more complicated for PLNs, because of organizational, geographic and professional boundaries. The purpose of this study is to explore how PLNs can function to meet their objectives and what challenges they face in their aim of achieving sustainable teacher learning and school improvement. We applied a qualitative case study design. Data were collected by means of interviews with PLN participants and external coaches, logs by external coaches, and yearly observations by the researchers. Results show how the PLN context influences the outcomes in terms of teacher learning, PLN products and application in their schools. Findings show how leadership, the perception of a shared goal, structured activities, collaboration, and facilitation and support especially appear to influence outcomes. PLNs face additional challenges in relation to within-school PLCs, in terms of knowledge transfer from the PLN back to participants’ own schools and the network as a whole. This should be acknowledged and acted upon before PLNs are even established.

中文翻译：

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专业学习网络：从教师学习到学校改进？

专业学习社区有望促进教师学习和提高教育质量。在过去十年中，重点从校内转移到跨校 PLC：专业学习网络。关于 PLN 中教师学习的基本工作过程的知识很少。由于组织、地理和专业界限，这对于 PLN 来说更加复杂。本研究的目的是探索 PLN 如何发挥作用来实现其目标，以及他们在实现可持续教师学习和学校改进的目标中面临哪些挑战。我们应用了定性案例研究设计。通过与 PLN 参与者和外部教练的访谈、外部教练的日志以及研究人员的年度观察收集数据。结果显示了 PLN 背景如何影响教师学习、PLN 产品和学校应用方面的结果。调查结果表明，领导力、对共同目标的看法、结构化活动、协作以及促进和支持似乎特别影响结果。在将知识从 PLN 传回参与者自己的学校和整个网络方面，PLN 面临与校内 PLC 相关的额外挑战。这应该在 PLN 建立之前得到承认并采取行动。在将知识从 PLN 传回参与者自己的学校和整个网络方面，PLN 面临与校内 PLC 相关的额外挑战。这应该在 PLN 建立之前得到承认并采取行动。在将知识从 PLN 传回参与者自己的学校和整个网络方面，PLN 面临与校内 PLC 相关的额外挑战。这应该在 PLN 建立之前得到承认并采取行动。