Abstract:

School is a privileged place for the enhancement of cognitive dimension and also emotional, social and relationship of any learning experience. Peer learning is an important opportunity to promote the process of change towards this goal, as it acts on creating an highly responsible and cooperative educational environment. Peer tutoring, collaborative learning and cooperative learning are valid methodologies for the realization of a general context in which to educate adults and children on acceptance of "others", so the focus is shifted to the vision and the perspective of the school as a welcoming and inclusive community.

Ability on cooperating and collaborating depends minimally by personal inclination; it is quite a skill that can and should be taught and learned. This is realizable through the construction of classrooms and schools where self-centeredness is replaced by ability to take care of others and where individual needs are in harmony with the community ones.

The point of view of this paper is focused both over the educational challenges, significant learning and the need for community, inclusion, respect for diversity required today by society, both over teaching methodologies of peer learning, that are assumed as central and used as effective for their ability to improve learning, motivation, self-esteem, social and communication skills.

In this paper we examine what the literature has to say about the term professional learning communities, look at how the concept has developed.
In this article we discuss also methods and theoretical perspectives on collaborative learning for the primary school. The article acknowledges the contributions from each of the major theoretical perspectives and places them in a model that depicts the likely role each plays in collaborative learning outcomes. This work explores conditions under which each perspective may operate, and suggests further research needed to advance collaborative learning scholarship. In recognizing the need to develop pupils’ skills in a primary school, this paper examines a case study of one school response.

Keywords:

Collaborative learning, professional learning communities.