Arab Educational Information Network

The study aimed to identify the level of leadership practices supporting professional learning communities, as realized by female and male leaders of public schools in Dammam. It also aimed to reveal the degree to which female and male leaders estimate the existence of obstacles that may hinder their leadership practices in supporting professional learning communities. The study used the descriptive-analytical method. A questionnaire was developed to collect data and distributed to all members of the study population (108 male, 167 female), and the return was (240) responses. The study reached several results, including that the leadership practices supporting professional learning communities in public schools in Dammam were achieved at a very high degree. The study participants recognized the existence of obstacles that hindered their leadership practices in supporting the professional learning communities with a high degree of estimation, most notably the heavy workloads. The results also revealed that there were no statistically significant differences according to the study variables except the variable of training programs number. Also, the study revealed that there were statistically significant differences at the level of significance (α≤0.05) between the means of study members’ responses on leadership practices in supporting professional learning communities, and the difference was in favor of those who joined three or more training programs. Based on to these results, some recommendations were reached including consideration of providing time for the faculty to hold reflective dialogues, discussions and exchange successful experiences and practices among schools that work as professional learning communities. (Published abstract)