Peer Learning Teams: Where to Begin

There is a good amount of enthusiasm among early childhood educators to create more opportunities for teachers to learn and grow within their program. As Rick DuFour so aptly states, “The best staff development is in the workplace not the workshop.” There is plenty of evidence to support this notion. According to a research study by Fixen, Naoom, Blasé, Friedman & Wallace (2005), “One thing we can say with certainty is that workshops are not effective if building skills and dispositions is the desired outcome.” Our own personal experiences probably support this evidence. I’ve had many experiences attending a great workshop, but by the time I returned to my classroom on Monday morning I could not fully recall, much less fully implement, all the lessons I had learned. I enjoyed the opportunity to network and have a professional development opportunity at a conference, but it was not easy to transfer the learning into my everyday practices with children. So what can we do if we want our teachers and staff to learn and grow in the workplace? The answer to this question may lie in peer learning teams.

Peer learning teams, sometimes known as communities of practice, are a great way to bring learning into the workplace. The problem is that as a program leader you can’t simply announce, “Starting this week we will be having weekly peer learning team meetings.” Instead, in the book Inspiring Peak Performance: Commitment, Competence, Collaboration, my coauthors and I developed the steps below to better prepare your teachers and program for successful peer learning teams.

STEP 1: DETERMINE TEAM READINESS

Not all programs are a good fit for implementing learning teams. Before launching into this approach, first assess your program’s level of readiness to engage in peer learning teams. Here are a few critical questions to consider in determining whether this model of professional development is a good fit for you and your staff:

Do your teachers demonstrate an interest in continued improvement and the joy of refining their craft?
Does your organizational climate promote a high level of collegiality? Are your teachers friendly, supportive, and trusting of one another?
Do teachers have a shared understanding of your center’s core values?
Do teachers exhibit a deep and genuine interest in children’s learning?
Are you willing to modify work schedules so teachers have time to meet on a regular basis?
If you can to answer yes to these five questions, there is greater likelihood you’ll experience success in implementing learning teams in your program.

STEP 2: ARTICULATING A RATIONALE

The second step is to communicate to your teachers a rationale for doing this work and inviting them to participate. It includes articulating a clear and compelling message for the use of peer learning teams in your program. There are many reasons why directors implement learning teams at their centers. Here is an exercise to help consolidate your reasons for pursuing this kind of work.

Read through the following reasons and select the two that best describe why introducing peer learning teams at your center might be a good strategy for continuous quality improvement.

To create a collaborative culture that focuses on thinking more deeply about children’s learning and interests
To provide an ongoing support system for teachers to help them learn and grow
To help teachers build leadership skills like group facilitation, active listening, probing for understanding, and providing feedback in a respectful way
To help teachers make meaning out of early learning standards, assessments, and data
To foster a collective commitment to the center’s core value of continuous improvement.
To strengthen centerwide collegiality
To encourage intentional teaching practices that link theory to practice

STEP 3: DECIDING ON STRUCTURE

The third step in getting started is to determine group size, composition, and the frequency that the peer learning teams will meet. Being intentional about allocating time is essential. Remember the secret to success in this small-group work is that the groups meet regularly over an extended period of time. Engage your teachers in brainstorming possibilities for when groups could meet, or consider allocating time at your regularly scheduled staff meetings for learning team work. Ideally one hour a week every two weeks would be devoted for learning team meetings. This may seem like a big commitment at first, but once teachers experience firsthand the power of being part of a learning team, they become invested in finding time to meet.

Once you have completed these steps you will be well on your way to launching a successful opportunity for teachers to gather together to deepen their knowledge of young children’s learning and improve their classroom practices. It is important to note the need for some structure in guiding the peer learning teams’ work. This often works best by inviting someone to facilitate using a protocol with guided questions to navigate the group’s learning.

To learn more about peer learning teams, the role of facilitator, and ideas for guided questions and protocols, check out these resources:

Bloom, P. J., Hentschel, A., & Bella, J. (2013). Inspiring peak performance: Commitment, competence, collaboration. Lake Forest, IL: New Horizons.

Curtis, D., Lebo, D., Cividanes, W., & Carter, M. (2013). Reflecting in communities of practice: A workbook for early childhood educators. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.

McDonald, J. (2007). The power of protocols (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.

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Scaffolded Beginnings: Navigating Orientation with Intentional Design: Part 2: Making It Stick

By Leslie Layman • November 12, 2025

BY LESLIE LAYMAN Introduction: Building on Intentional Design In part one of this “Scaffolded Beginnings” series , Emilie Austin, McCormick Institute for Early Childhood’s Manager of Learning Design Experience, spoke to the importance of intentional design and scaffolding to support new employees in deepening their learning during orientation. This second part of the series covers the importance of operational leadership in helping that learning to “stick” so that employees can successfully apply skills learned in orientation to their new roles. Many organizations structure orientation as a “big day” of meeting people, reviewing handbooks and procedures, and maybe sharing coffee and sweets. On that day, new employees are taking on a new role, expectations, and culture while trying to understand and memorize functional processes and procedures. Going beyond the big day by applying intentional environmental design and contextual, participatory learning theory in your day-to-day helps your employees own and grow into their place in your organization’s culture. Applying a Reggio-Inspired Approach to Onboarding Intentional leaders are responsible for both the administrative leadership of the workplace environment and the strategic leadership and guidance of the organization. Both areas are involved in scaffolding new employees from understanding what they have learned during orientation to applying that information in their new role throughout and beyond the onboarding and training process (Talan, Masterson, & Bella). Loris Malaguzzi’s Reggio approach to early childhood education is a useful framework for thinking of and planning for new employees as learners and participants in the environment, as well as educators and carers of children and families. “To make a lovable school, industrious, inventive, liveable, documentable and communicable, a place of research, learning, re-cognition and reflection, where children, teachers and families feel well - is our point of arrival.” -Loris Malaguzzi (Sourced from: Institutionzione del Comune di Reggio Emilia ) Each of the Reggio Values can be used to create a shared learning space where educators and children can thrive. A few examples include: Children are active protagonists in their growing processes And so are adult learners! Find ways to make new employees the “lead” in the story of their onboarding. New employees can participate in individualized goal setting to help them feel in control of their professional development. Progettazione/Designing People of all ages learn by doing. Support new employees to participate in designing training and learning experiences rather than providing only pre-planned or scripted training. The Hundred Languages People bring all of themselves, their experiences, and their ways of being to learning and work environments, and they gain new knowledge through active co-construction. Integrating learning experiences into the work environment can help training become more memorable and easier to apply. One example is implementing training on technology or documentation tools as they are being used in context. Participation New employees need opportunities to participate in the environment as they are learning and to experience the emotions and culture of the role. Observation time is important, and being an active team member early on is also important. Organization and the Environment Intentional planning of the way in which employees will interact with the space makes learning more fluid. Some ideas include: making sure that the resources needed for tasks are in functional locations, having deadlines for documentation or responding to family communications built into the daily schedule, and modeling intentional care for children by demonstrating deliberate care for the space. Thoughtfully organize adult materials and create a welcoming, inviting environment for adults and children. Leadership Insight: Apply what you know about Learning and environments The same principles of guiding the learning and independence of children in the educational environment can be applied when helping new staff to move beyond understanding their role to actively embodying their role on your early care and education team. This process can be applied using the early education and care philosophies that are most important to you and relevant to your leadership context. Reflecting on the philosophical and curricular choices you have made for your program and why you chose them can help you think about how you may want to apply those approaches for adult learning. This strategy works because it is integrated and intentional, and it builds skills by modeling skills in the “real world” context to make them stick. Resources for Further Exploration Scuole E Nindi D’Infanzia, Institutionzione del Comune di Reggio Emilia. (N.D). Reggio Emelia Approach. Reggiochildren.it, https://www.reggiochildren.it/en/reggio-emilia-approach/ Beirmeier, M. (2015). Inspired by Reggio Emilia: Emergent Curriculum in Relationship-Driven Learning Environments. Young Children, 70(5), https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/nov2015/emergent-curriculum Schlieber, M. & McLean, C. (2020). Educator Work Environments Are Children’s Learning Environments: How and Why They Should Be Improved. Sequel, January 21, 2020. https://cscce.berkeley.edu/blog/educator-work-environments-are-childrens-learning-environments-how-and-why-they-should-be-improved/ Citations Scuole E Nindi D’Infanzia, Institutionzione del Comune di Reggio Emilia. (N.D). Values. Reggiochildren.it, https://www.reggiochildren.it/en/reggio-emilia-approach/ Talan, T., Masterson, M., & Bella, J. (2023, April 4). Whole leadership: A framework for early childhood programs – 2023. Whole Leadership: A Framework for Early Childhood Programs – 2023 | McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership.