“This is what education means to us”: a professional learning community in an elementary school of athens
The present thesis is investigating the function of a teacher’s team at an elementary school in central Athens, whose students are mainly multicultural. By focusing on some aspects of everyday school life, is becoming clearer how teachers perceive their role. The methodology that was used, contained semi-structured interviews and field study observation. The teachers have managed to build a professional learning community, based on the concept of ongoing mutual learning and development. The main factors that contributed to this professional learning community being a success, are the strong-built relationships among them, as well as the idea of a collective identity, by sharing common beliefs and values, not only about the role of education, but also about how the role of a teacher should be, educationally and politically. Based on this research’s results, the role of a teacher is overall “political”, in that regard, the teacher’s actions, despite their direction, are always protecting, not only their own rights as teachers, but also their students and families’ rights.