Keyword: professional learning

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to contextualise the notion of leadership for learning within the Maltese educational landscape, while highlighting the systemic challenges the country faces in enhancing professional learning among educators. It is argued that successful reform needs to start with looking at the notion of collaboration and so at the system and school level. Two main shifts are proposed. Firstly, a partnership between schools as networks and central leadership is proposed, one that is based on new forms of governance. A second shift is that of enhancing the professional capital of teachers and leaders. In this way, teachers’ professionalism and professional identity are redefined. This paper explores how leadership and governance shape our perception of educational reform and the cultivation of professional learning in Maltese schools. It argues that meaningful change relies fundamentally on nurturing trust as a guiding principle across both systemic and institutional levels. Ultimately, without a genuine shift in mindset, reform efforts will fail to achieve a lasting impact where it matters most, student learning.

ABSTRACT: Despite growing student diversity in U.S. K–12 classrooms, Teachers of Color (TOC) remain severely underrepresented. One way to support TOC is through professional learning within critical affinity groups. Critical affinity groups are spaces where TOC engage in critical pedagogy that addresses systems of oppression in educational spaces through recognition of racial and cultural strengths. This study examines how Women of Color personnel in the Urban Public School district designed a critical affinity program to support the retention and development of the district’s experienced TOC. Using semi-structured interviews, participants’ illuminated how their own lived experiences as former TOC shaped their understanding of the necessity of critical affinity spaces and how these groups support TOC. The Women of Color personnel identified monthly meetings, mentorship, support, and networking, as well as participation in policy-change workshops as the best ways support TOC. The information gained from this study supports using racial affinity groups as professional learning for TOC to offer culturally responsive mentorship and leadership opportunities that provide professional and personal transformation.