Exploring trends and insights in professional learning communities: a bibliometric analysis review

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are essential for enhancing teachers’ professional competence and improving students’ learning outcomes, highlighting the need for a systematic analysis of their intellectual structures and evolutionary trajectories. This study utilized CiteSpace to conduct a bibliometric analysis of 1686 publications on PLCs from 1993 to 2022, incorporating co-citation networks, keyword co-occurrence, and burst detection to map the intellectual landscape and emerging research frontiers. Notably, key contributions have emerged predominantly from the Asia-Pacific region, with institutions such as the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Zhejiang University, and Nanyang Technological University playing pivotal roles in advancing PLC scholarship. While no stable core group of authors or institutions has been established, this may reflect the decentralized and diverse nature of PLC research, which supports broad participation and multiple perspectives. The major research themes included teacher professional development, student knowledge building, school education, and communities of practice. Recent research frontiers emphasize lesson study, novice teachers, and student achievement. Insights gleaned from the evolution of PLCs contribute valuable perspectives to the global discourse on implementing PLCs to enhance teacher professional development, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region’s diverse educational systems.