Comparing Professional Learning Communities and Professional Learning Networks: A Narrative and Conceptual Literature Review on School-Wide Improvement in International Schools

International schools operate at the intersection of global professional mobility and local institutional demands, creating an environment in which both formally organized and self-directed teacher collaboration are present. This narrative and conceptual literature review, distinct from systematic, empirical, or mixed-methods studies, examines how professional learning communities (PLCs) and professional learning networks (PLNs) are conceptualized in the literature as mechanisms for school-wide improvement in international schools. No primary data were collected; the review does not include original surveys, interviews, structural equation modeling, social network analysis, or student achievement data. Instead, it synthesizes findings and arguments from 33 sources published between 2020 and 2025, including six peer-reviewed journal articles or book chapters, one practitioner-oriented published book, and 26 doctoral dissertations and graduate theses. Given that more than three-quarters of the corpus consists of unpublished, non-peer-reviewed graduate research, all claims are attributed to their originating source type rather than collectively as peer-reviewed evidence. The literature associates PLCs with instructional coherence, collective efficacy, and teacher retention, while PLNs are linked to adaptive innovation, reduced professional isolation, and cross-cultural knowledge exchange. Rather than ranking effectiveness, the literature most consistently frames PLCs and PLNs as complementary structures within a mixed model of professional learning. The absence of empirical, international-school-specific comparative studies is identified as the central gap for future research.

Professional Learning Communities, PLCs, Professional Learning Networks

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