With this invitation comes the challenge to suspend certainty and the need for answers outside ourselves. As an initial definition, learning communities value the collective process of discovery, and people within them value living with their questions. The answers to these questions reveal a great deal about the culture in which students and adults alike learn and develop in a school. Culture is the context in which all members of the school community work and relate one to another.
Every school has a learning culture.
They are curious and routinely ask questions for which they do not have the answers. They are seeking better ways to do their jobs, always striving to improve their performances. They are working together to learn from their own and others' knowledge and experience. They are continually trying out new ways of doing things and collecting and using evidence to determine effectiveness. They do not fear failure, but rather view mistakes as an opportunity for learning.