Professional learning groups
Learn alongside other leaders, work through real challenges, and strengthen your leadership practice.
Professional Learning Groups (PLGs) provide a trusted space for principals and other school leaders to learn with and from one another.
Led by an Evaluation Associates Principal Advisor, each PLG creates structured time to work through real leadership challenges, share practice, test thinking, and develop practical approaches that you can take back to your school or kura.
Leadership can be isolating. Some challenges benefit from thinking alongside people who understand the realities of leading a school.
Who are PLGs for?
PLGs are particularly valuable for principals seeking a trusted professional network beyond their own school. They also provide senior, middle, emerging and aspiring leaders with opportunities to build capability through collaborative learning with others.
Groups can be established within a school or across schools, depending on your context and leadership development needs.
How do PLGs work?
Each PLG is co-designed by its participants, with the group establishing shared agreements for how they will work and learn together. Sessions are shaped around the group's priorities, and may include:
exploring issues and areas of shared interest
working through shared problems of practice
discussing leadership inquiries or projects
engaging with relevant readings, research, or presentations
using provocations to challenge and extend thinking.
Where agreed by the group, PLGs can also provide a professional network for the Professional Growth Cycle (PGC).
The approach is collaborative and grounded in reciprocal learning. Participants bring their own experiences and perspectives, while the group provides a supportive space to ask questions, test ideas, and consider different approaches.
Hear from some of our past participants:
Choose the model that works for your group
Need a different approach? If neither standard model suits your group's needs, a bespoke PLG model can be negotiated - get in touch with us to discuss.
Ready to join or create a PLG?
Get in touch with Evaluation Associates to discuss your group, preferred model, focus, and delivery options. If there are enough participants in your area, we can help convene a face-to-face group, but blended or virtual options are also available.
Once your PLG arrangements are confirmed, you can complete an enrolment form.
