‘Collaborations of stakeholders around clusters of schools involving both school and community personnel, together with researchers, local area leaders and policy-makers’ (European Agency, 2015e, p. 7).
Such communities share and critically reflect on practice in an on-going process that promotes further learning. Parents and community stakeholders play an important role in the learning and support network around schools, developing social capital.
Features of learning communities include:
- Shared values and vision
- Collective responsibility for and focus on learning and personal growth of learners/other stakeholders
- Respectful relationships that involve mutual trust and support
- ‘Shared’ authority
- Collaboration with external partners (European Agency, 2015e).