Professional learning community (PLC) has been concerned as an effective way to promote teacher professional development in China. However, PLC must be optimized due to Chinese culture and education system. This study aimed to explore the features of PLC in preschool teachers’ perspectives and provided theoretical basis for PLC localization practice.Twenty-eight preschool teachers were engaged in a PLC, their interview data and personal reflection diaries were collected and analyzed based on grounded theory analysis.Five core features of PLC in teachers’ perspectives were extracted in this study, including a common vision, a read-practice-share flow, continuous reflection, distributed leadership, peer and organizational support. PLC’s common vision is to promote teachers’ professional development and children’s development. Teachers learn and reflect in the process of “reading-practice-sharing,” peer support and leadership empowerment play an important role in a sustainable PLC. Institu1.1.the fifth discipline, which contained five disciplines of learning organization including systems thinking, personal mastery, improving mental models, building shared vision and team learning. Based on Senge’s viewpoint, many scholars defined teacher community from different perspective. The concept of PLC came from the learning organization proposed by 1.2.There have been a wide range of opinions about the features of teachers’ PLC. Based on the views of scholars, PLC presented the following core characteristics: (1) Common vision and belief; (2) Establishing student-oriented collective responsibility and partnership; (3) Leadership to support and share; (4) Practice-based cooperation and sharing; (5) Reflective participation and interaction; (6) Material and spiritual support of trust and respect; (7) Network based external links.1.3.Chinese scholars have also put forward some characteristics of PLC, including building a common vision, joint leadership and professional autonomy, community cultural construction and teacher professional practice.Common vision is the emotional basis of shaping PLC. In order to reshape the professional development of teachers, it is necessary to awaken the growth needs, cultivate the awareness of active learning and formulate a common vision of teachers . Common Shared leadership is the leadership mode of PLC. Dialogue, consultation and self-leadership are common ways of leadership . AllowinThe construction of community culture is the ideological foundation for development. Community culture is an ecosystem that includes shared vision, collaborative reflective practices, socially supported tools and resources, learning evaluation of meaning construction . It’s alCommunity content should pay attention to the problems existing in teaching practice. The main ways to promote teachers’ professional development include practice reflection, curriculum consciousness change in practice, action exploration in real situation and developmental evaluation in practice. Only by transforming practical knowledge into teachers’ professional knowledge can we promote the development of teachers’ professional competence . What’s Although the characteristics of PLC proposed by Chinese scholars were similar to those of foreign scholars. Chinese studies ignored the deep respect, collective responsibility, commitment to continuous improvement, and engagement of family and community that Western researchers focused on. The study concerned about the core characteristics of PLC in practical participants’ perspectives, which could further optimize the practice of PLC in China.2.This study was a single-case holistic design. Interview data and reflective diaries were collected in a PLC, and a PLC assessment scale (PLCA-R) were used to qualify them. The qualitative data were analyzed based on grounded theory, which included data collection, analysis and comparison . Open co2.1.Twenty-eight preschool teachers from six inclusive private kindergartens were selected in Fujian, China. They all participated in a-year-long PLC on child language development. Their information of education, teaching experience and job position were presented in 2.2.Twenty-eight preschool teachers and their principals participated in the interview. They were asked about their PLC experience, emotion, results, progresses and recommendations. Every single interview had exceeded 1.5 h and all voice materials were transformed into scripts and checked by professional transform tools.An effective reflection should include: implied knowledge in action, knowledge in action and reflection on action . In thisQuestion 1: What did I do today? Who was involved in the incident? Under what circumstances? How did it happen, develop and end? What was the point of this?Question 2: Why did I think this should be done? What did I expect this to mean? Did my expectations come true? What facts did I find that conflicted with this expectation? Why?Question 3: What else could or should I have done?2.3.The Professional Learning Community Assessment-Revised scale (PLCA-R) was used to test whether the group complied with the basic characteristics of PLC operation. The scale proposed that teachers’ PLC should include five aspects: shared and supportive leadership, shared value and vision, collective learning and application, shared personal practice and supportive conditions . Partici2.4.To construct new theories based on grounded theory, this study completed multiple rounds of data analysis through the cyclic process of “data collection, analysis, comparison, re-collection, re-analysis and re-comparison” . Open co2.4.1.Open coding conceptualizes data and defines data attributes and direction . We read2.4.2.In axial coding, all categories are connected with condition, action or interaction, and consequence, which explain “when, where, who, why, how and what” . We have2.4.3.Selective coding is a process of integrating and refining theories to form theoretical models, and to create a few core categories around which other categories are constructed . After t2.4.4.Reliability was tested at different stages of the study. Firstly, the interview data and personal diaries were compared to ensure accurate and consistent. After voice materials of interview were transformed, all scripts were returned to interviewees and confirmed to be authentic and accurate. In order to ensure the objectivity and consistency of the data analysis, two researchers coded data separately. Kappa test was conducted with Nvivo 12 Plus and all coefficients surpassed 0.80, as shown in 3.3.1.Through open coding, axial coding, and selective coding, 398 open coding formed 12 categories. Five core features of optimal PLC were extracted with Nvivo 12 plus, including a common vision, a read-practice-share flow, continuous reflection, supportive and sharing leadership, peer and organizational support, as shown in In 476 file data involved, there were 2,146 nodes pointing to peer and organizational support, following by the learning-action stream of “reading-practicing-sharing” (1279), continuous reflection (1001), common vision (510), and finally supportive and sharing leadership (482). Researchers ranked each category by the number of nodes and analyzed each category concretely.3.2.In axial coding, the researchers clustered the open coding with the “who” in Veins Conditions as the focus, and analyzed the open coding from the aspects of “cause of concern, support mode, support result, emotional experience.” We found that peer support and organizational support played an important role in PLC. 3.2.1.The most important relationship in PLC is peer relationship, which directly affects the smooth development of community activities. The main peer supports reflected by participants were shown in Peers agreeing with each other is the most important. When teachers shared content, expressed views or showed practical results, the peers expressed recognition through language, expression, action and so on, which would enhance the sharer’s confidence. It also provided sharer with courage to continue learning and sharing. In addition, the sharer returned this affirmation back to others, enabling them to benefit from a community culture of mutual recognition.“I was afraid to express my thoughts at first. Once I tried to express my opinion on a certain subject. Unexpectedly my companions valued my opinions, and said my opinions expanded their thinking. It gave me the courage to speak up.” (T204-I).“When I was analyzing children’s picture books, my peers would nod and smile at me, making me feel what I was talking was very valuable, which would make me enjoy analyzing picture books or sharing reading notes with others.” (C104-I).“When we just started to make the framework of picture book analysis, my partners advised me to try to write something first. At that time, I didn't have many ideas, I had to rely on my experience to sort them out. We added some contents based on my draft. My peers thanked me for drafting and making discussions so productive. And for the first time, I thought I can do it well.” (T109-I).However, roughly identifying and following goals leads to a lack of community criticism, which will result in making wrong collectively decisions . Accordi“Although opinions differ, each person would explain to defend his or her own point of view.” (T206-D).“Because the sharing session was not about criticizing who was right or wrong, nor was it about competition. During the discussion section, we would discuss the topic of ‘forming good reading habits and behaviors’ from both theoretical and strategic perspectives. Only in this way could we gain more ideas.” (T203-D).Agreeing to disagree is not easy. Members must recognize that peer relationships have been established. In order to maintain such relationships, members needed to withhold their opinions and listen to peers.“As we finally discussed about the reading strategy, I was less insistent on using the scale I had drafted. I wanted to step back and saw what others thought on this scale, rather than sticking to my point of view.” (C501-D).“I had more control over expression and was more willing to listen to others, which opened my eyes to the diversity of ideas from others.” (C106-D).3.2.2.Building a community definitely takes time, place, money, etc. The community in this study was supported by the organization which were also perceived by members. Among them, the biggest feedback from members was the guarantee of time.“We were very happy to operate a PLC. We also strived to provide necessary support for community development. For example, we offered teachers half a day of community learning each week, and provided transportation and meal subsidies for teachers who studied outside. Preschools with learning spaces would provide refreshments for community teachers and reserve suitable learning spaces. It was fair to say that the principals of several preschools were fully supportive of community learning.” (Chief -I).Time is the prerequisite for learning activities. There is a lot of practice in community activities. Observing and communicating these practical activities will certainly occupy daily teaching time. Preschool teachers in China are usually required to lead classes all day, and only part of the concentrated teaching time can be used for lesson preparation. The development of community activities would inevitably affect their work.“I was really worried that I could not juggle work and study. However, assistant principal not only covered the class for me, but also gave me many good suggestions on how to optimize the class work.” (T301-D).“In the next few weeks, I needed to go to another preschool for four consecutive weeks to see practical activities. Today, I went to communicate with my principal about changing classes, and she soon helped me arrange it.” (T202-D).In order to protect teachers’ learning time, preschool administrative teachers should share more work. Of course, the members were aware of this and cherished learning opportunities more.“While teachers were studying, our administrative staffs were covering their class, which actually increased the workload of administrative teachers.” (Chief -I).3.2.3.Emotional change is an important factor affecting PLC activities . ResearcAmong the positive emotions, mutual recognition, peer enlightening speech and positive interaction were associated with peer support. Most members also learned from peers when observing specific subcodes (133).Among negative emotions, fears of under-contribution, inability to share stress and being misunderstood and supported by peers reflected PLC members’ concerns about peer relationships. Members were eager to get peer approval, and worried that they were not competent for the sharing task or the sharing quality was low, which would lead to peer disapproval of their sharing. These worries could be a motivator for their growth, but could also be a hindrance to their learning.“I did not read enough. My arguments were mostly based on my own experience and lacked of literature support, which made me feel powerless when I expressed.” (T203-D).“The reasons why I was afraid of practice sharing were: (1) I did not know what were the best practices in my work, and I did not know how to analyze the good points from ordinary work. (2) My knowledge was not very rich, and I worried that I could not accurately share the bright points of practice with members. I was afraid that my companions did not understand what I said. (3) I felt nervous about speaking in front of so many people.” (T303-D).In addition, anxiety about not having time to study was a major source of negative emotions. Although the organization had set aside half a day for members, they needed to use their own time to finish reading, practicing or sharing, which also caused negative emotions.“As much as I wanted to study, I wasn’t sure I could take time off from my family life to do so. Let us just said I would try.” (C501-D).“These two days coincided with the graduation performance of kindergarten senior class, I have been busy until now. I had to share the reading with the members tomorrow, but I was not ready right now because I really did not have enough time.” (T301-D).3.3.Focusing on the community activities perceived by the members and following Veins Conditions as a thread, the researchers teased out three main activities, namely “reading, practicing, and sharing,” as shown in 3.3.1.Community reading activities included reading books together in groups, writing reading notes, sharing readings with each other, and finding problem-solving materials. Reading and understanding groups books together was one of the highest perceptions.“We have found books suitable for our creative reading activities, which provided basis and support for our thinking and learning.” (T201-D).“My partner reminded me that it was probably because I did not understand the characteristics of children’s reading comprehension that I could not pry developmental needs from children’s responses. I decided to look the language PCK again.” (T202-D).“The convenor pointed out that there was no point in arguing on the spot and suggested that we each went back and looked for relevant information on page structure or number. I would then try to find relevant information on page structure and number to support my views. I also looked forward to their support for their views.” (C501-D).When members started a learning topic, encounter difficulties in teaching or disagree with peers, reading would be an important source of help. However, it was not easy to find suitable reading materials. Members obtained books from their own sources, peers or experts, but found that some books did not offer new perspectives, could not solve problems, and were not useful. It may be an urgent problem to select suitable books efficiently.“I bought the book they recommended, but I did not get the good points in their recommendation. Maybe I have been looking for some intuitive strategies or teaching methods instead of general preaching and concepts.” (T202-D).“Recently, I have been reading books that needed to be shared. But after reading them, I found that there was little difference in the content of the books, and I could not find anything special worth sharing.” (G106-D).“I borrowed five books related to reading from the principal, none of which could directly told me what I could use and how to do in teaching.” (T404-D).3.3.2.Practice usually includes personal teaching and observing others’ teaching. This study found that observing, analyzing and optimizing peer’s teaching activities were the most important practical activities perceived by community members.“We carried out the observation activities in the way of One Lesson and Three Studies, and we gained a lot. These activities allowed us to adapt the content and methods of teaching to children’s performance. This adjustment was the crystallization of collective wisdom, allowing everyone to see the feasibility and effectiveness of their own ideas through activities.” (C502-I).“We entered the scene with an evaluation scale we made before, which enhanced the objectivity of the observation, allowed us to view the activity from the same perspective, and increased the frequency of interaction and communication.” (T201-I).In the interviews, researchers found that group discussion was an important behavior in the observation activity and a major channel for members to benefit. The observation scale developed by collective discussion provided a necessary theoretical basis for observation and analysis, and the optimized plan of collective discussion provided a carrier for members to continue practice, observation and analysis. As the crystallization of collective wisdom, they made individual practices more supportive and peer interactions more professional.Although observation activities could be of great benefit to individual professional development, it was difficult to conduct observation activities in school. The main reason was the resistance of the observed teacher. Since the observed teachers were often in the position of being evaluated, the problems exposed will affect the professional recognition teachers. But teachers in this study were able to overcome these effects.“I was really looking forward to being watched for the first time, because I had tried it in my class and it worked, and it was a group discussion, and I was looking forward to showing it to my peers.” (T301-D).“After being observed, the focus of everyone’s discussion was on children’s learning performance and the suitability of activity methods. I knew that I still had many problems in activity organization and teacher-child interaction, but everyone did not pay much attention to it. In addition, I also gained a lot of suggestions on optimizing the activity. Such observation gave me the opportunity to practice and demonstrate without discouraging me, so I could do it several times!” (T201-D).The main reason members were willing to be observed was that the practical content came from the collective discussion, and what was evaluated was the group discussion activity plan, rather than the observers themselves. On one hand, it could reduce the difficulty of designing activities for the observed; on the other hand, it could reduce the pressure of being judged by the observed. In addition, the discovery of personal teaching problems, the use of new teaching methods was also the main practice content of PLC members. In general, the practice of cycling from collective to individual and again from individual to collective was widely used in the community.3.3.3.Sharing has become the most frequent behavior in community activities, and personal practical experience was the most important content shared by members.“I could use “cannot wait” to express my mood at this time. Today, I tried the method discussed last time in my class. Surprisingly, children found the details in the picture book quickly, and I did not need to remind them hand by hand. I looked forward to sharing my children’s academic performance with my peers.” (T206-D).“Older teachers could use their experience to help us refine the details. For example, when we were discussing children’s operation cards, a senior teacher reminded us that the cards should be easy for children to operate and should be placed on the back of the operating table in advance, so as to reduce the interference with children’s operation.” (T401-I).The experience shared by members came from the community practice and personal teaching. Both could increase teachers’ willingness to share and improve the quality of shared content. In addition, the main contents shared by PLC members included their own problems and strategies, reflections on peer reading notes, suggestions for peer problems, different perspectives, and their thoughts on next learning stage.3.4.Reflection is limestone of teachers’ professional progress, it confirmed teaching issues, changes teaching strategies and resolves teaching problems . In the Reflections were inseparable from community activities like reading or practicing. Support members’ ongoing learning by reflecting on others’ book reports and group practice was an important motivation. Participants also reflected on the emotional response of individual activities, the peer participation in activities and the activity forms.To further explore the quality of reflections, researchers used Bloom’s cognitive domain (1956) and its classes to analyze the reflection diaries from six levels of “knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation.” Knowledge is simple procedural knowledge that has been previously learned by recalling facts, terms, basic concepts, and answers. Comprehension refers to demonstrating an understanding of facts and ideas by organizing, comparing, translating, explaining, describing, and stating the main ideas. Application is the requirement to combine learned knowledge, facts, skills and rules to solve problems in a particular situation or in a different way. Analysis means inferring information by identifying motives or reasons and looking for evidence to generalize. Synthesis is combining information in different ways to form new patterns or propose alternative solutions. Evaluation refers to the evaluation of the value and internal consistency of information, judging its logical flaws, and comparing it to the highest standards. The encoded reflection data are shown in There were relatively more Knowledge, Comprehension and Analysis, and relatively less Application, Synthesis and Evaluation. However, participants could use methods such as comparison, examples, and reasoning in their understanding to improve their ability to critically analyze and come up with innovative ideas. In evaluation, they could discuss how to adjust and improve based on practical results.3.5.the Fifth Discipline, In 3.5.1.It was made clear to all participants that the ultimate goal of the PLC was to promote children’s development. However, teachers of different level expressed it differently. For directors, the goal was specific and conceptualized. When discussing the content of PLC, the directors would focus on children’s performance in activities, and implemented the goal of promoting children’s development.“PLC was ultimately for the children, … It taught teachers how to teach children, so it was important… We were engaged in education for many years and this was our goal. Children should be our last beneficiary. Whatever we taught, observed, or conducted, we did it for children’s development.” (D108-I).“Our goal was to discover beauty in child's integrity, language, behavior etc. Maybe a little general, but we set this as a goal. We wanted to make them more beautiful; we expected they have a better future.” (C107-I).“The kids might exhibit a certain behavior, regular teachers would report back, and we would gather the problem and focus it on one teacher. If she didn't know why the child did it, we would focus on that child.” (C501-I).Although ordinary teachers identified with and strived to achieve this goal in PLC, they were unable to describe this goal systematically. In general, PLC activities usually stem from teachers’ observations of children. As curriculum and teaching progressed, teachers obtained self-efficiency from centralizing children’s issue and reaction.The Bench Ladder game created by teacher 204 was not popular. Through teaching practice, she found some problems. She seized the child’s interest and transferred the initiative of the game to the child.“I asked children to discuss the bench ladder we played in the morning. ‘Do you think it’s funny? Why do you think it’s funny? Why don’t you think it’s funny? And what else do you want to play?’ I tried to give children opportunities for full discussion. The next day, I encouraged them to set up the ladder as they wish. When I gave them enough autonomy, they began to engage in the activity and walking the ladder. And then, more and more children joined in.” (T204-I).This phenomenon have been mentioned by many teachers, and most of these discussions came from daily observation and reflection of children’s behaviors and reactions. Teachers also used the reflective results to improve their interaction with children. Children were always the focus in this circle of discussion. As T404 said, curriculum and teaching were more meaningful if the subjects were focused on children. Paying attention to children would aware teachers the value of teaching and research, as well as improved their sense of achievement in teaching.“She expressed the idea that we should observe children, and pay more attention to them. We needed to cast our eyes on children. I tried it when teaching. I observed and recorded how they played, whether they were happy, how they interacted with situations and peers. The Happy Town activity was more meaningful this way.” (G302-I).3.5.2.All members have proposed profession progress as their main goal in PLC. At the beginning of PLC, they expected to effectively solve teaching problems, increase the knowledge reserve in language education and acquire new information language education. At the end of PLC, researchers interviewed them about their gains or changes, the main gains considered by the participants members were shown in Although the primary concern of teachers after the implementation of PLC was professional progress, the initial expectation of teachers was progress in professional knowledge and competence. However, the improvement in learning style, learning attitude and leadership ability were not previously anticipated. Therefore, as long as teachers have a common vision to promote each other, their personal development will be comprehensive and meaningful.In the interview, some teachers mentioned the importance of community norms. It was not easy for teachers to take the first step to reading, practicing or sharing. The norm is the common constraint of the members on their learning actions , which p“The norm required we to read every week. Even if you were not the sharer this week, you should know the book content in advance. This made it necessary for me to set aside time for reading every day, which was a little uncomfortable at first. But that’s why I have something to share in group activities. When I got approval from my peers, all efforts were worthy.” (G302-I).“We set the rules ourselves, and everyone had to follow them. Fortunately, there were rules that allow me to practice sharing. Otherwise I wouldn't have had the courage to share with so many people.” (T201-I).3.6.In PLC, college leaders share leadership and enhance the leadership of regular teachers, including authority, power and decision making . When fo“The biggest difference of PLC learning was that we decided what problem to solve, we organized and managed our own learning contents and methods, we practiced and tested our learning quality. When everything was led by ourselves, our learning was no longer passive.” (G105-I).“I was a convener leader for the first time in my life. Although I was very nervous, I suddenly felt the responsibility of being a leader. I had never listened so carefully to my peers, nor responded so actively to their speeches.” (C104-I).When power was shared, members could feel the control and responsibility as leaders, which had a positive effect on their learning initiative. However, if their own leadership and management abilities have not been improved, it would not only make themselves feel frustrated, but also make others feel disordered and ineffective learning. In the process of empowerment, only by constantly improving learners’ leadership, expression and learning ability can they truly be competent in leading learners to carry out learning activities.“The members could leave some time for digestion when they finished their own views and ideas. The convenor did not repeat the views of the speaker, which would confuse others’ understanding, and it was easy to forget what the speaker said.” (C501-D).“The promotion of our overall goal was not fully considered in previous meetings, and the purpose of this group meeting was not clear. Everyone couldn’t deeply discuss about the focused content, there were more ideas. And the convener couldn’t get the direction and felt a little confused to catch others’ focus.” (G105-D).“While hosting, I listened to the sharing member, and thought about how to use the propositions and explorations at the same time. So that I cared about one thing but lost another, finally I didn’t know what I was talking about.” (G403-D).4.4.1.Five core features of optimal PLC were extracted by grounded theory, including common vision, read-practice-share learning flow, continuous reflection, supportive and sharing leadership, peer and organizational support. Former researches generally discussed most of them except transferring of external knowledge. It indicated that the PLC features were similar in different cultures and educational systems.However, there were some features that were not presenting in this study. For example, 4.2.Teachers’ PLC should aim at promoting teachers’ professional development, students’ development and improving school management .Community activities should focus on students and learning. Teachers should understand and commit to the common vision and find their own position in realizing the common vision, which contributed to carry out learning activities effectively . In thisStudent development was fundamental to the shared community vision. “What development do students need? How to evaluate it? What kinds of support do different students need?” Each of the issues should be an important part of a common vision . In thisOnly discussion and practice based on children’s learning performance could trigger teachers’ advanced cognitive performance, accelerate the learning process and improve professional competence . If profCommunity norm is a common behavioral expectation formed in a group, which guides individuals acts and behaves in a community . It is i4.3.The operation of PLC required an organizational culture of trust based on collective decision-making, data decision, sharing information and innovation . There aAll the descriptions above showed that a better culture of trust has developed within the community. Such culture played a positive role in reducing the conflicts and enhancing the positive emotions among members. It also supported the continuous learning of community members. The findings echoed those of many scholars. There were aspects that community members have yet to feel. In order to allowed more relevant groups to have the opportunity to become a PLC member, the use of network technology, expanding the scope of PLC social needed to be considered. With the support of information technology, 4.4.Reading is an important way for teachers to obtain external information, but it should not be the only way. External experts, social resource and academic institutions can all become the channels for external knowledge . ManagerPractice is an important way to internalize external knowledge. Only when teachers apply that knowledge to solve problems in personal teaching practice can they have the opportunities to reshape their teaching behaviors, improve their teaching concepts, and ultimately affect students’ learning and development . In thisSharing is the activity that members experience most in peer interaction. Sharing is part of cooperation, which should also include storytelling, mutual assistance, joint work, etc. . These cReflection is generally regarded as an important feature to effectively promote the PLC . In this4.5.However, the acquisition and use of power by members was influenced by many factors. For example, with less teaching experience, teachers’ speeches were more likely to be influenced by personal professional competence and self-confidence, as well as by the words of authoritative members. When the group trust was insufficient, the voice would be affected by the relationship of community members. When collective decisions were inconsistent with their own decisions, an individual’s right to make autonomous decisions would be affected by the group. 5.5.1.Common vision is the direction of community members and the guide of their learning behavior . This reHowever, the professional development of teachers must be established on the basis of children development. It would help to clarify the common vision of promoting children development by Mastering objectives, specific content and evaluation methods of children development. At the beginning of the PLC, members should first identify the goals and needs of children’s development, and collectively formulated indicators to evaluate children development, and then considered what professional development teachers should obtain based on this goal. These contents made clear that PLC’s common vision could help teachers solve teaching problems and improve personal professional ability.In addition, community norms drafted by PLC members were external forces that maintained the continuous learning. Community members must formulate a concise and specific community norm, and fulfill the norm with collective commitment to ensure the effective implementation of community activities.5.2.The establishment of trust is the result of the joint efforts of PLC members, and it is an important condition for a community to maintain good learning atmosphere. The trust culture needs to provide smooth communication channels. Members have the right to participate and make decisions, and can conduct professional dialogue and share in an environment of mutual respect, trust and care . In thisIn addition, the culture of trust was not limited to the community, and all interest groups in early childhood development should be integrated into such a culture. Especially for parents, only when teachers and parents established a solid mutual trust, could teaching behavior benefit children.5.3.The “read-practice-share” action flow could become the main way of community learning, but the way for teachers to obtain external information could be expanded from books to external experts, academic institutions or other social resources. The teachers’ practice could include collective teaching observation and individual teaching practice. In addition to sharing personal experience, teachers could also offer their own teaching wisdom through joint teaching and assisting peers in teaching.Reflection is the source of motivation for teachers’ continuous learning and the key to interact between implicit and explicit knowledge. In PLC, self-reflection and collective reflection should become important links that teachers attached importance to and actively implemented. Only by improving personal reflection ability and mastering effective reflection methods could we realize the reflection cycle from observation, description, analysis to practice, and finally realize self-cultivation. At the same time, promoting collective public reflection could form a learning wheel of shared meaning, joint planning and coordinated action, so that reflection became the core of collective learning in the PLC.5.4.Researchers believed that empowerment could best enhance teachers’ motivation for independent learning from the inside out. First of all, kindergarten leaders were required to be willing to delegate their power and return the leadership, professional autonomy, information sharing, participation, decision-making and learning rights to the teachers, so that every teacher had the opportunity to enjoy these rights. At the same time, the preschools should actively improve the ability of teachers to use these powers. Through training, guiding, instructing and other ways, the competent teachers should have the priority to enjoy all kinds of rights. And through the mentoring system and other ways, more and more teachers had the opportunity to use all kinds of rights, and an organizational culture of sharing power and responsibility would be finally realized.6.This study has some limitations. First, all participants in this study came from the same PLC, their perspectives were affected by the organizational environment and lack of diversity. So the results of this study should be flexibly applied according to the actual situation of the organization. Future research should attach importance to the learning behavior of community members and adjust the activity content and method timely. In addition, participants tended to focus on successful and impressive cases, some important features may be overlooked. To avoid this phenomenon, more case studies should be carried out to make the perspective of Chinese preschool teachers clearer.Despite these limitations, this study has theoretical implications. This study concerned the experience of Chinese preschool teachers in PLC activities, identified community learning behaviors that impress teachers, triggered the reconstruction of PLC activities to make it more in line with the actual needs of teachers’ learning. Besides, this research extracted five core features of PLC based on the grounded theory, which provided theoretical guidance for the effective operation of PLC in China. This study also has practical implications. It indicated that teachers’ professional development and early childhood development should be adhered to a common vision. The culture of trust was important for the sustainable operation of community. The learning action flow of “read-practice-share” should be constructed with reflection. And empowerment played an important role in PLC. The findings of this study will provide more guidance for organizers who want to operate PLC. It will also reduce practical problems and improve the effectiveness of PLC.The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.JY co-designed the research, main author of the manuscript, contribution to data collection, main investigator responsible for data analysis, and interpretation. YZha and YJ contribution to data collection and drafted the manuscript. YZho co-designed the research and drafted the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.This research was funded by the National Education Sciences Planning Fund of China (Key Topics of the Ministry of Education) project no. DHA220418.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.


School educators are likely to explain the poor educational trajectories of students with Roma backgrounds related to the lack of parental support and interest in children’s education. Aiming to understand further the patterns of Roma group’s parental involvement in children’s school life and their engagement experiences in school-related activities, the current research set an intervention supported by a culturally sensitive story-tool.Grounded in the intervention-based research framework, 12 participants  from different Portuguese Roma groups participated in this study. Data was collected through interviews conducted pre-and postintervention. Eight weekly sessions were delivered in the school context, using a story-tool and hands- on activities to generate culturally significant meanings regarding attitudes, beliefs, and values toward children’s educational trajectories.Through the lens of acculturation theory, data analysis provided important findings under two overarching topics: patterns of parental involvement in children’s school life and participants’ engagement in the intervention program.Data show the distinct ways Roma parents participate in children’s education and the relevance of mainstream contexts providing an atmosphere likely to build collaborative relationships with parents to overcome barriers to parental involvement. Parenta1.1.For marginalized ethnic groups, such as Roma, school learning and social dynamics provide an essential source of intercultural contact . The ongParents support and participate in their children’s education in various ways. For example, The ways and the quality of parental involvement vary across cultures and are influenced by school-related factors . This group, perceived as conservative, lives in a patriarchal structure where gender roles are ascribed, despite women being perceived by the other groups as more active and emancipated. Within this group, marriage occurs later than in other groups. The last group comprised individuals living in tent camps, whose economic activity is selling scrap metal, raising farm animals, and subsistence agriculture. This group has even fewer resources than the other two. Gender imbalance is more prominent, placing women into subservient roles. Early marriages and inbreeding are common in this group. Given their cultural specificities, particularly regarding the resources available and the openness to contact and participate in mainstream systems, parents are expected to hold different personal resources and face other challenges while participating in their children’s education.Moreover, it is also hypothesized that cultural differences can shape the extent to which parents engage in the intervention. For example, groups living in tents may face additional challenges  to participate in their children’s education. On the other hand, the group settled in social housing in urban areas are potentially more exposed to perceived discrimination in mainstream settings , being more resistant to engage in the intervention.3.The current study is grounded on the intervention-based research framework, widely used in education as a powerful tool to conceptualize, assess, and intervene in the participants’ lives . This de3.1.A collaborative intervention using a story-tool was developed with two groups of parents with Roma’s background.3.1.1.Storytelling is a powerful educational tool that provides opportunities to generate culturally significant meanings regarding attitudes, beliefs, and values e.g., . Listene3.2.A meeting was organized in both schools to inform parents about the program. The aim was to connect with the community and familiarize researchers with their cultural aspects while establishing trusting relationships. One group was composed of two Roma communities, and the other group was more homogenous regarding their Roma origin . Eight 90-min weekly sessions took place for each group in schools, using rooms prepared for small-group discussions. No rewards or payments were offered for participation. Two implementers (both from non-Roma groups) with a background in educational psychology delivered the program in both groups . The leading implementer had previous experience working and researching with Roma groups and extensive training in multicultural approaches and practices. The second implementer received training on Roma culture references and multicultural approaches for the current research. This training was delivered by the senior researcher and Roma community members. The sessions were offered in Portuguese  and followed an instructional sequence: (i) the sessions started from the first session onwards with an initial recap of the story and the “take-home message” from the previous session; (ii) afterward, implementers read aloud a short chapter of the narrative related to the session’s overarching goal. Participants’ knowledge of the vocabulary used in the story-tool was monitored, and sentences were often translated into everyday language to ensure understanding. Also, participants were encouraged to retell the story in their own words. (iii) The discussion on the session’s topic  was prompted by questions. The discussion began with descriptive narrative-grounded questions . Afterward, questions were transferred to real-life related inquiries . Participants were purposefully guided to transfer the ideas discussed  to the educational trajectories of their children. (iv) Sessions also included hands-on activities  to help participants further understand and consolidate reflections made while discussing topics. These activities were discussed using the reasoning line of inquiry to articulate and connect knowledge learned with actions to follow and real-life events. Finally, (v) sessions ended with a summary and a brief ‘take-home message’. The questioning flow was responsive to the participants’ answers , conveyed to the implementers. These researchers received a 2-day training for delivering this intervention. The training covered the program’s theoretical framework, objectives, procedures, and information on the Roma culture and groups targeted. Moreover, weekly debriefing meetings with a senior researcher were held to review the intervention script and to monitor protocol adherence; additionally, intervention sessions were audio-recorded and checked against the protocol by two researchers. The overall fidelity of delivery  or eight (n = 10) program sessions; these women were interviewed in the two data collection waves .School directors and social work assistants facilitated contact with the community. Finally, 17 mothers agreed to participate in the program. Five participants missed several sessions and were not interviewed in the second data collection wave. Reasons were related to sickness and medical appointments , problems at home , and overlapping household chores. Finally, data analysis drew on 13 participants who attended seven  had never attended school during childhood (women aged between 27 and 43 years old). From those, some attended adulthood introductory literacy courses to develop reading and writing skills. Most participants who attended school as a child completed elementary school (67%).3.2.3.n = 13), ‘nearly all’ = 100%−2 participants (n = 11), ‘most’ = 50% + 1 to 100%-2 (n = 7 to 10), ‘around half’ = 50% + 1 participants (n = 6), ‘some’ = 3 to 50% + 1 participants (n = 3 to 5), ‘a couple’ = 2 participants, and ‘one’ = one participant. To enhance the trustworthiness of the current findings  patterns of parental involvement in children’s schooling and (2) participants’ experience of enrolling and engaging in the program. Following the recursive process by findings , a randofindings . Verbatifindings . Pseudon4.Results were organized in two sections: (1) patterns of parental involvement in children’s school life and (2) participants’ engagement experience in the intervention program. A visual depiction of results containing key themes, subthemes, and relationships among them is presented in 4.1.Participants were asked about their perceived parenting roles in supporting children’s school trajectories. When comparing reports across both data collection moments, no meaningful differences were found regarding the practices reported by parents on their involvement in children’s school life. Moreover, differences did not emerge in data when accounting for participants’ literacy or children’s gender. However, when layering results by the Roma group living conditions (living in urban areas versus living in tents), slight differences emerged within themes. The emerging differences in participants’ reports were pointed out within each theme.Participants reported behaviors and attitudes to support and take part in their children’s school life fell into three major themes: (1) home-based efforts, (2) school-based efforts, and (3) academic socialization efforts. The efforts displayed by parents seem to be triggered by the institutional protocols and demands . These influences likely shape parenting role constructions and, therefore, the extent to which parents participate in children’s education.4.1.1.providing basic child needs, parent–child communication about the school, and home-learning supervision and monitoring.This theme includes participants’ attitudes and practices geared to contribute to their children’s educational outcomes . It coveProviding basic child needs. Participants’ parenting role representations translate to educational practices promoting autonomy and physical and economic independence from an early age. For example, all participants reported that children are autonomous regarding the time to wake up and prepare themselves to be at school on time.“I don’t wake up before them. They are already used to waking up alone and getting ready for school. I tell them, is everything here [in the kitchen] I will not prepare your breakfast. My oldest daughter is used to waking up, getting ready for school, and helping their brothers. They prepare the coffee, drink it, and then go to school. It is more or less like this.” “When it is 7 o’clock, half past six, he is already woken up to go to school. Even when he is home, he has this routine. He is like that, puts everything in his backpack, dresses up, and prepares everything. Even the breakfast.” However, when layering results by living community, rural-living participants seemed to express more concern about supervising children in meeting the school schedule  and ensuring that children get safely to school. These participants emphasized the latter as essential duties of their role in children’s education.“He wakes up alone, and he does everything alone. Wash teeth, put the books in the backpack with the things to the school. He eats breakfast, takes the bus, and goes. But I wake up to check if he got the bus. Sometimes when is late, I take him to school. And I also go there to take him back home when he has classes late in the afternoon. I am afraid because there is a street without a crossing area” “At six [in the morning] I prepare lunch [breakfast] to be close to my daughter, and she has [enough] time to eat. She is afraid of going alone [to the bus stop], and I walk to the bus with her.” Parent–child communication about school. Despite not taking the initiative, most participants in our sample referred to talking with their children about their behaviors and activities in school. However, it is worth noting that, in general, participants lack information about their children’s preferences, school tasks, difficulties in progress, or school grade records.“She never talked about that [preferences and difficulties to solve school tasks]” “He doesn’t talk, never say a word about the school. He never says what he likes at school or if everything was okay in the classes. He is very quiet, like his dead grandfather.” Home-learning supervision and monitoring. Nearly all participants noted that they do not have the literacy skills to support their children while completing home-learning activities or checking whether they have completed their homework (note that most of the participants struggle to read or write). To answer the school staff pressures, some participants in both groups referred to display thwarted efforts to monitor children’s homework and study time, such as asking their children whether they had homework assigned or checking their notebooks to learn if they did homework. However, school assignments are commonly expected to be completed on after-school community-based projects. Thus, nearly all participants in our sample mentioned that they do not set time at home for their children’s homework and study.“When he arrives home, I ask if he has homework.. He tells me that he did homework and I ask him to show me the notebook to see if it is true … but I don’t know how to read.” “After school, she goes to the Red Cross [to do the homework and study]. When she arrives home, eats, and uses the mobile phone all the time.” 4.1.2.communication with the school and teacher-parent meetings attendance.School-based aspects include participants’ efforts to communicate with and participate in school-promoted activities and parent-teacher meetings . Nearly Communication with the school. All participants assumed a passive role while relying on the school staff to communicate by phone to update them about their children’s misbehaviors in school  and material or homework shortages. Almost all the participants stated that they usually communicate with the school’s social work assistants. In contrast, some participants reported starting contact with the teacher representative to address their concerns about their children’s or peers’ behaviors.“[I know what happens in school] because I am connected. The social assistant calls me: ‘I am talking with Toya? It happened this and this and this. It is like that … And she tells me what he does in school, that I have to control him, and that he will be punished in school.. Like this.” “When he misses a class or has bad grades, the teachers call me to a meeting.” “Sometimes, I call the teacher. When he [child] doesn’t want to go to school, I talk with her [teacher] to ask her to talk with him, to give him some advice, and she does it” Parent-teacher meetings attendance. Around half of the participants in our sample referred to attending in-person meetings set by teachers. Participants added that meetings’ agenda usually includes discussion on severe problem behaviors, poor grades records, or administrative tasks .“When he misbehaves, they [the social work assistant] call me or send a letter to come to school.” “When there is a problem, they call me immediately to come to school. When they cannot handle her anymore, they call me to the school. It is like this, and I have to come. I know everything bad that happens in school” 4.1.3.parental attitudes towards education and communication of educational expectations.Participants also reported engaging in efforts to instill the value of education for children’s future and career plans. This theme covers Parental attitudes towards education. Nearly all participants reported focusing their educational efforts on setting conditions to help children attend school. Participants reported conveying educational messages regarding the importance of education and making efforts to socialize children with school norms and values . When children misbehave, nearly all the participants reported a list of punishment strategies  or withdrawal of privileges  used to control children’s behaviors in school.“I think we have to encourage them to go [to school] because it is good for their future. If we support them, they will not quit. I always tell them to behave well and respect the teacher. My children must obey and behave well; that’s what I teach them.” “The phone distracts her [in class]. Sometimes I keep the phone at home; she can only use it back at home. I do that [to help her be focused on the class].” Communication of educational expectations. Nearly all participants aspire for their children to enroll in school beyond elementary grades. However, participants’ statements reflect poor literacy skills and a lack of tacit knowledge of the school system. This led participants to set vague or unrealistic academic expectations for their children. Overall, participants’ expectations regarding education reflect parental socialization emphasis on fostering young children’s personal and economic independence and quality of life, such as getting a driving license and having an unskilled job or enrolling in a funded professional training course.th grade]. “So, I don’t know until what age they should study, I have no idea about this. I would like him to study until he can, until … how can I explain?.. until he is 18 years old, to have a better future. Yes, I expect him to study until he's 18. To have at least completed the eighth grade, I don’t know . I would like that. He could be called by people with animals and earn money. He has animals and needs a veterinarian; as he would be a veterinarian, he would not need to call one.” “I would like him to stay [in the school] up to 20 years old. At that age, he would be a veterinarian  because we [Roma community] think differently; when we reach the age of majority, then we leave school. But I would like him to be in school [completing high school].” 4.2.Facilitators of engagement and responsiveness and program perceived outcomes. Participants shared that their participation in the program helped them improve their awareness of parenting roles and strategies to support children in school. Overall, participants reported positive evaluations of their experience in the program sessions. Layering findings by the Roma group’s living conditions , slight differences emerged within themes. These differences were pointed out within each theme.Participants were asked about their expectations for and experiences of the sessions. Two themes emerged: 4.2.1.Process-related and Content-related factors.Participants’ positive evaluation was mainly related to the relationships they developed within the group, the program contents, and the instructional methods followed to convey the contents. Participants’ answers fall into the following subthemes: Process-related factors. All participants in both groups shared that the process  impacted how and how they engaged with the sessions.“[In the sessions] I felt like it was a relief. I shared my happiness of being a mother, I felt comfortable in sharing also some difficulties I have with my children” “[In the sessions] I enjoy to be with them, socializing, I don’t know, getting to know each other, giving our opinions, these things.” In particular, despite the specific barriers identified by the rural-living community , all participants emphasized the relationships built and the feeling of being listened to as enhancers of their behavior and emotional engagement in sessions.“And I had to come on foot. Only God knows; to attend, I left everything behind, the children there … I came sweating and tired, and then I had the housework. But I said: ‘they are waiting for me there, and I have to go’. Then I came and distracted myself … This helped me a lot … believe me. Sometimes I was sad at home, but when I came here, we were together, we played and learned good things, and we talked about our children. I really return back home better. Here, I distracted myself” Content-related factors. Participants in both groups noted program contents and delivery strategies as enhancers of their emotional and cognitive engagement. All participants agreed that the program activities  matched their literacy level and reasoning abilities . This helped participants to overcome obstacles related to poor literacy and engage in discussions. Moreover, the non-directive approach provided opportunities to think over the session topics within a safe environment to open up and share their feelings, opinions, and concerns, enhancing their emotional and cognitive engagement.“The sessions were excellent. I was not expecting it; it was a good surprise [the sessions]. Like a little box full of surprises … If I read the story for myself, it was a normal story, but no, her discussion was completely different; I understood everything, beautiful, surprising (…). It helped me a lot. It helped me to give more value to things . I want more sessions.” “I liked these sessions very much. We were together; we had fun, we played and learned many good things, it was good. We learned many things from each other. We learned that it's good to talk to the kids, and see how they spent their day, I think it was. Next year we should return.” For urban-living participants who are often exposed to parental interventions, the approach followed to deliver the content was positively acknowledged in contrast with previous experiences teaching participants how to educate their children.“People that do not attend or quit these courses [parenting programs] do it because they hear ‘this is to give education to our children, and they think, but we do not give education to our children already? They [Roma people] think, what do they [social educators] know of how we educate our children? They [Roma people] think like this. In my opinion, the others quit these sessions because they thought that would be the same … but not!” .4.2.2.Overcome barriers to engagement and responsiveness, enhance social connectedness and well-being, reflect on parental roles and expand parenting skills.While sharing their initial expectations, nearly all participants looked at the sessions as opportunities to grow as educators and help their children succeed. Moreover, around half of the participants also reported perceiving their participation in the program as an opportunity for closer contact with people from other cultural groups . For example, participants living in urban areas stressed the opportunity to interact with other Roma, while participants living in rural areas referred to the opportunity to contact with mainstream individuals. Ultimately, all participants shared positive outcomes from their session’s enrollment. This theme includes qualitative indicators about the perceived program’s impact on participants, their livelihood, and aspects learned across the sessions. Program perceived outcomes fall into three outlined subthemes: Overcome barriers to engagement and responsiveness. Overall, participants in both groups identified potential barriers  to their participation in the sessions. When layering findings by the Roma group living conditions, most of the urban-living participants assumed an initial resistance to enrolling in the sessions related to their previous experiences in ‘how to parent’ interventions. On the other hand, rural-living participants tend to identify logistic barriers related to long-distance walking, which compromises their home-caring tasks. However, in both groups, participants assumed that their disposition shifted along the program (clearly more positive at the end of the program). Furthermore, they elaborated on the efforts displayed to engage in the program and overcome the dispositional and logistic barriers to participation.“Once we had to attend something like this. I attended one session. It was even here at this school. I was afraid that this could be the same thing. But then I realized that this would be different. I've never seen ladies like you working with people like us, only gypsies … I really enjoyed the experience. I even think, in my opinion, that this is good for people with our ethnicity because we think we are … we have left aside as if we were not important to society. I think this is very good” “Yes, sometimes I arrived nervous [in the sessions] because I had to make food for my husband [prepare lunch before leaving the house] because when I arrive home [at the end of the session], I had a little time [to do house chores] … Still, I never missed [a session].” Enhance social connectedness and well-being. Overall, participants in both groups mentioned that participating in the program was an opportunity to experience different social experiences, such as socializing with people from other cultural backgrounds. When analyzing patterns in data, almost all rural-living participants described their participation in the sessions as positive for their well-being while providing opportunities to leave their homes, helping to distract from family problems, and improving their mood.“What I liked the most was being together (…) [these sessions] put Roma and non-Roma to talk.” “These [sessions] helped distract my head [put away the problems and worries]. Was good because I am a woman that never leaves the house, I am always closed in my life. My head was happy here.” Reflect on parental roles and expand parenting skills. Nearly all participants in both groups recognized the valuable opportunities provided to reflect on their parenting role representations regarding the support in children’s education. Participants were encouraged to translate session reflections to their personal lives and parenting representations during the session. For example, in one session participants were invited to knead the plasticine into a shape. The purpose of this goal-directed activity was to elicit participants’ reflections on the roles they may play in children’s lives. All participants in both groups described insights into their parenting representations gleaned from the development of this activity. Also, the reflective exercises following the story-tool passages were pointed out as relevant opportunities to promote self-reflection on their parental roles. When comparing data across moments  between groups , slight differences regarding parental role constructions were noted. In particular, rural-living participants  expressed that they learned critical ways to help their children grow and develop in the sessions. For example, these participants mentioned having acknowledged the importance of talking with children about their future perspectives and engaging in efforts to monitor their progress in school better. At the end of the program, rural-living participants expressed that more than just supporting their children’s decisions, they wanted to be involved in academic endeavors because that can make a difference in children’s trajectories.“I liked the story that tells that you need to get up and continue when you fall. For example, when we, for example, want a job, to work doing anything, we have to fight for that. We cannot sit and wait; we must look and fight, fight. We must fight for our children; we want what is good for them.” “[I learned that the] Plasticine were our children, and we had to make something with them [like we were doing with the Plasticine]. [I thought that] We need to put efforts and do beautiful things with them to their future.” 5.The current study aimed to deepen our understanding of parental involvement in children’s school life among families with a Roma background and build evidence likely to help support school efforts and future interventions on this topic.5.1.In line with previous studies targeting ethnic minorities , currentth grade; then leave school, work with animals in a small farm, and finally act as a veterinarian without further education). Parents limited tacit knowledge and grade-level expectations, along with their poor perceived efficacy on how to be involved in children’s school life, may help explain their tendency to reproduce in their lives the low expectations communicated by educational policies across generations  and the participants’ reported difficulties, the duration of the intervention may have been limited. A longer term of the program could have strengthened the impact of the intervention. Moreover, despite efforts to reduce language and understanding barriers, participants hold a limited verbal repertoire to express their perspectives and thoughts, which might have prevented capturing the nuances of the changes from pre-to post-interviews. Finally, the current study focused on mothers’ perspectives and relationships with education. Despite the central role played by mothers in children’s education, fathers are recognized by the participants and among the communities as figures of parental authority. Thus, future research may add relevant knowledge while addressing the perspectives, role constructions, and forms of involvement in children’s education of fathers with Roma backgrounds. Moreover, given the particular relevance of parents’ acculturation to understanding parental involvement in education, future research may consider including measures of parents’ acculturation orientations, acculturative stress, and sociocultural adjustment within rural and urban-living communities.7.Globally, the findings provide insights into how and the extent to which parents with a Roma background are involved in children’s education. Furthermore, despite the preliminary conclusions limited by the nonexperimental study design, data offer good insights into how schools can encourage parents’ engagement in and with school activities while upskilling parents and helping them mobilize to support their children and youth in the education process.per se should be considered a form of parental involvement in children’s education. Participants’ experiences and outcomes are expected to help expand policymakers, school administrators, and educators’ understanding and practices on how to reach families and build partnerships likely to promote the school success of children and youth with Roma backgrounds.The efforts displayed by parents from Roma groups to participate in children’s education are often invisible to educators, and parents’ practices are portrayed as an essential source of children’s disengagement . Howevertaniateixeiramoreira@gmail.com.The datasets presented in this article are not readily available because data includes participants identifiable information. Requests to access the datasets should be directed to TM, The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Scientific Ethics Committee of the University of Minho. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.TM and PR conceived the original idea and supervised and coordinated the project and data collection. TM, PR, and EBL developed the theoretical framework and the design of the study. TM, JuM, CS, and JoM implemented the culturally sensitive program. CS, JuM, and JoM were involved in data collection and management. TM, JuM, and DM performed the data analysis and co-wrote the findings. CS, JoM, and DM reviewed the data analysis and findings. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.This study was conducted at Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds (PTDC/PSI-GER/6847/2020), and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653). The TM was supported by a PhD fellowship from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) (SFRH/BD/125876/2016).The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. 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Medical tourism is traveling to another country to promote, restore and maintain health, recreation, and pleasure. There are different types of health tourism, including medical tourism, recovery tourism, and preventive tourism. This study aimed to explain safe acceptance in the nurses’ cultural care of medical tourists in Iran.In this qualitative study, 18 semi-structured interviews were conducted with nurses, patients, and patients’ relatives, who had been selected by purposeful sampling in 2021–2022. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and then analyzed by conventional content analysis.The statistical analysis revealed that the main theme of this study was safe acceptance which included the five categories of trust building, safety, maintaining comfort and peace, stress control, and identifying patients’ expectations.The present study demonstrated that safe acceptance of cultural care was essential to medical tourism. Iranian nurses were aware of the factors that affected cultural care and the safe acceptance of medical tourists. Moreover, they carried out the necessary measures to achieve safe acceptance. In this regard, solutions such as developing a comprehensive and mandatory national qualification program and evaluating its periodic performance in this field are suggested. Medical tourism is a new concept in modern medicine and refers to patients who travel abroad for medical treatment , 2. MediWith international health care rising, health and medical tourism concepts, intercultural competence, and cultural safety have become more influential. In the healthcare section, the healthcare providers’ ability to provide culturally appropriate services depends on the “cultural competence” of healthcare workers . Lack ofUnsafe cultural practice is any practice that demeans or undermines the patients’ cultural identity or their families. It can include religious symbols, individual behaviors (eye contact and gender insensitivity), or social actions such as observing or not observing certain rituals. The unsafe cultural practice comprises any action that diminishes, demeans, or disempowers an individual’s cultural identity and well-being , 11. EstMedical tourism is a unique type of service influenced by cultural factors. As culture plays a central role in the design of healthcare practice and behavior, it seems that studying the related aspects of culture-centered care is effective in developing a model with a competitive advantage. The quality of services will improve by reducing the stress of foreign patients who are very vulnerable due to their health conditions and have to face additional pressure to tolerate cultural differences –17. The Considering that there was no conducted study regarding the safe acceptance of nurses’ cultural care of medical tourists in Iran. Therefore, we aimed to know: “How is cultural care practiced by nurses?“, and “How is it possible to perform safe acceptance of foreign patients?“ Generally, regarding the existing knowledge gap in this field, and since qualitative studies provide a vaster view of the topic under investigation by deeply exploring the experiences of participants, this research was designed with a qualitative approach to explaining the safe acceptance in nurses’ cultural care of health tourists in Iran. This study could lead to a deeper understanding of clinical factors in medical tourism and help organizations involved in improving their services by focusing on the capabilities of healthcare human resources.This qualitative study was conducted with the conventional content analysis approach. Data were collected by interviewing 14 nurses; one physician; two patients, and one patient relative, who had been selected by purposeful sampling in the teaching hospitals of Tehran  and Urmia (West of Iran) Medical Sciences Universities. Tehran  is a touristic city and the first entry point for many medical tourists to Iran. There are many private hospitals and clinics in Tehran, which contain suitable facilities for medical tourists. This city has the best hotels, tourist attractions, free entertainment, and sceneries, and offers excellent health tourism services to tourists with magnificent security. Urmia is in a province with a common border with three countries: Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Iraq. Considering the unique border capacity and the development of health indicators, it is a suitable destination for medical tourists who need health services. Inclusion criteria for nurses were; being a clinical nurse with experience in caring for medical tourists and being willing to participate in the study. Also, to better understand the concept of cultural care, interviews were conducted with a diverse range of participants . The present study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Tehran Islamic Azad Medical University (IR.IAU.TMU.REC.1399.575) and following the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and standards. The research was anonymous, and all participants were given information about the study and asked for written informed consent to participate.Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with participants. The interviews were conducted in 2021–2022 by the first author at the participant’s workplace or any other places agreed upon by the participants and in four stages [The first stage (orientation phase): In this stage, the researcher introduced himself and spoke about the study title, general and specific objectives, and the possible time of the interview. The researcher also requested permitting to record the interview and return it to the participant if needed. The second stage (main question): In this phase, the investigator asked the study’s main question to the participant .Third stage (probing questions): In this phase, probing questions were also asked of the participants to better explore their experiences and clarify any ambiguities. Examples of Probing questions from nurses included: “In your opinion, what are the cultural differences of medical tourists?”, “How do you consider culture in health care?”, and “How do you provide safety for patients?” An example of exploratory Probing from patients included: “Can you tell us about your experience coming to Iran?”, “What did you expect from Iranian nurses when you came to Iran?”, “What things were important to you as a patient?”, An example of probing questions from the patient’s companion included: “What is the difference between cultural care in Iran and your country?”, “What did you expect from Iranian nurses?”, “What things were important to you as a patient companion”? Fourth stage (ending question): At this stage, the participants were asked to talk about anything else they would want to add or express. The interviews ended when data saturation was reached.Third stage (probing questions): During this phase, according to the expressed experiences of the participants, they were asked probing questions to well-reviewed their experiences and clarify any ambiguities. The probing questions examples of nurses included: “In your opinion, what are the cultural differences of medical tourists?”, “How do you consider culture in health care?”, and “How do you provide patient safety?” An example of exploratory Probing from patients included: “Can you tell us about your experience coming to Iran?”, “What did you expect from Iranian nurses when you came to Iran?”, “What things were important to you as a patient?”, An example of probing questions from the patient’s companion included: “What is the difference between cultural care in Iran and your country?”, “What did you expect from Iranian nurses?”, “What things were important to you as a patient companion”? Fourth stage (ending question): In this step, participants were asked to talk about anything else they wanted to add or express. The interviews ended when the data was sufficiently saturated.The interview was immediately transcribed verbatim after each session and read several times to acquire an understanding of the entire interview. Transcribed interviews were analyzed based on conventional content analysis using framework analysis. Conventional content analysis is an inductive qualitative research method in which you develop codes, categories, and themes from textual data rather than pre-existing theories. Regarding why this method was chosen, it should be commented that the nature of safe acceptance in the cultural care of nurses from medical tourism is a concept that requires its analysis and the relations between its elements and revealing the hidden patterns between them. Also, due to the lack of existing studies on this particular group in Iran and the lack of a defining theory for the researcher, the conventional content analysis approach was used . The intLincoln and Guba’s criteria were used for rigor. To assess the data’s trustworthiness, the criteria of credibility, confirmability, dependability, and transferability were used. The credibility of data was ensured through long-term engagement with the participants, constant data comparison, member check, and peer check. Bracketing was used to ensure data conformability. Dependability was assessed by asking two members of the research team to audit the study process and findings. Finally, for transferability, a rich analytical description of the study process, methodology, and limitations was provided. The principle of maximum variation was also considered during the sampling . The firLincoln and Guba’s stringent criteria known as credibility, dependability, confirmability, and transferability were used to establish the data’s trustworthiness. The credibility of data was ensured through long-term engagement with the participants, constant data comparison, member check, and peer check. Bracketing was used to ensure data conformability. Dependability was assessed by asking two research team members to audit the study process and findings. Finally, a detailed analytical description of the study process, methodology, and limitations was provided for transferability. The principle of maximum variation was also considered during the sampling . The artParticipants in this study were selected based on acquiring maximum diversity. In the 18 interviews, 758 codes were identified. The coding process was performed as a continuous comparative analysis after removing duplicate codes and merging similar codes. Consequently, the main theme of “safe acceptance” and five categories of “trust building”, “safety”, “Comforting Communication”, “stress control” and " Responding to inconsistent expectations " resulted from data analysis. The participants’ demographic characteristics are demonstrated in Table According to the participants, patients with various cultures travel to Iran for medical treatment. These patients are concerned about their first encounter with nurses in the hospital. In this situation, nurses’ behavior with patients creates a feeling of safe acceptance in patients. Safe acceptance is an inner feeling that is constructed following two-way trust between nurses and patients. This is the sense of security and safety, which reduces patients’ stress and provide conveniences. When patients trust the nurses and a two-way trust is formed, they feel safe, their stress reduces, and their expectations are more easily identified. In this situation, safe acceptance will occur.“Mutual trust between the treatment staff and patients is very important in providing care.“ (p14).Trust building is one of the crucial categories in safe acceptance. In their statements, nurses referred to the importance of building trust with medical tourists. They believed that safe acceptance occurs when mutual trust and respect are formed between the nurses and the patients. Participant number 15, a 32-year-old nurse, married, stated that:“At the first stage, appropriate treatment and proper communication are very important, because these things create a sense of security and peace in patients and also make patients trust us.“ (p13).The nurses stated that one of the ways to build trust between them and their patients is proper communication in the first meeting with the patients. According to the nurses’ statements, patients are stressed on arrival, which means they do not feel safe and secure. When proper communication is formed in the first encounter, the patients will feel relaxed and begin to trust nurses. All these factors create a sense of safe acceptance in patients. Patients also stated that they wait for someone to talk to upon their arrival at the hospital, and trust is formed when nurses talk to them. In this context, a male participant with 30 years of nursing experience stated:“If patients trust us and believe in what we do, and also if we treat them well, they will naturally adhere to the treatment more easily, take the prescribed medicines better, and follow our orders.“ (p14).On the other hand, when trust is formed between patients and nurses and safe acceptance is occurred, adherence to treatment increases in patients, they express their wishes more easily and they are less confused. In this context, a 27-year-old nurse, single, with five years of work experience in the international patient department and the intensive care unit stated:Nurses and patients believed that, first of all, patients should be accepted safely. Nurses also argued that building trust is one of the ways to convey a sense of safe acceptance in patients, which promotes cultural care.“At the first encounter when entering into the ward, seeing the facial expression of the nurses and their appropriate behavior gives us peace of mind and safety.“ (p17).The statements of most participants indicated that most medical tourists who go to a foreign country for medical care experience a sense of insecurity, which undermines their peace. Nurses take adequate and effective measures to ensure the patients’ safety. According to nurses and patients, the first need and desire of the patients are to have a translator who speaks their language, making them feel safe and secure. Most participants referred to non-verbal communication as one of the ways to create a sense of safety in patients. In this regard, participant number 17, an international patient who came to Tehran for eye surgery from Kurdistan, Iraq, stated that:“Patients who visit us have no problems in terms of admission. By providing a private room, a sense of satisfaction and safety was created in international patients.“ (p6).Introducing the ward and providing a private room for patients is a significant factor that facilitates the safe acceptance of patients. The patients stated that when nurses adequately explain about the ward and give patients a private room with privacy, they began to feel safe. The participants stated that providing a private room is a kind of respect for the patients’ culture to create a sense of safety in them. By respecting the patients’ privacy and creating a sense of safety, the nurses ensure the safe acceptance of cultural care. The participant, a 32-year-old woman with one year of experience in the international patient department, states that:In general, it can be said that safe acceptance is achieved through cultural care by choosing nurses with more professional behavior and the ability to communicate effectively.“I spoke Kurdish and they didn’t understand. I spoke Arabic and they didn’t understand, I spoke English and they didn’t understand. I was very frustrated. I’m not that kind of person, but I sat on the floor crying and screaming in the middle of the ward.“(Urmia) (p18).Another category that is very important in the safe acceptance of medical tourists is Comforting Communication. At first, Medical tourists do not have enough comfort and peace for some reason. Not knowing the language is one of the reasons why patients lose their peace of mind. Improper communication with the treatment staff and a lack of knowledge about the treatment process would cause patients to lose control and become aggressive and restless. Considering these barriers and creating comforting communication is a way to make safe acceptance. According to the statements of participant number 18, who was one of the patient’s companions and came from Iraqi Kurdistan for the treatment of their child, she stated the following in the context of comforting communication in Tehran and Urmia:“When we entered the hospital, someone came from the hospital. When that person came, I felt very relieved” (p18). (Tehran)Patients’ reception by the nurses at the arrival moment, was an effective factor in the patients’ calm. In this regard, one of the patient’s companions said:“If there is an important task, I ask my colleagues to do it so that I can go and admit the foreign patients, and when they see that I am a Kurdish person and fluent in the Kurdish language, they begin to relax, and their peace of mind increases.“ (p2).To maintain comforting communication with patients and achieve safe acceptance, the nurses take measures, such as checking patients regularly to encourage them, talking to patients even if they are unfamiliar with their language, smiling at patients, explaining the procedures, etc. According to the patients’ and nurses’ statements, selecting a nurse with the same language as the patient is one of the most significant categories in establishing effective communication and maintaining the peace and convenience of the patients. In this regard, participant No. 2, who has 10 years of work experience in the international patient department, also owns a health tourism company in Urmia, stated that:Getting to know people’s culture and paying attention to their comfort and peace is one of the most important measures in the safe acceptance of international patients. Where people’s comfort and peace are taken seriously and efforts are made to respect their culture, safe acceptance occurs.“When I arrived in Urmia, I was very worried and stressed. My husband knew Farsi, but I didn’t.“ (p18).Many patients have a high level of stress on their arrival at the hospital, and according to the participants, many factors have caused their stress. For instance, patients’ admission during the Covid-19 pandemic was one of the Categories that created a high level of stress in patients. Lack of familiarity with the language and inappropriate communication of nurses are also causing additional stress in patients. Moreover, a lack of familiarity with the environment and unfamiliar with laws in Iran are creating confusion and stress in patients. According to the statements of participant number 18, who was one of the patient’s companions and came from Iraqi Kurdistan for the treatment of their child, she stated the following in the context of Stress:“We explained everything to them step by step, and they said that when you explain to us, our stress is reduced.“ (p11).To reduce the stress of medical tourists, the nurses communicated with the patients and talked to them even when they did not know the patient’s language, but according to the nurses and patients, speaking to the patient even in a language that differs from patients’ language reduces their stress. Appropriate behavior of healthcare workers, explaining medical procedures, and selecting nurses who know the language of patients were among other actions taken by the nurses in this study. For example, participant number 11, a 27-year-old nurse, single, with 5 years of work experience in the international patient department and Intensive Care Unit, stated that:Strange country, not knowing the language, inappropriate communication, unfamiliar environment, and the resulting stress lead to insecurity among medical tourists.“Patients’ expectations are only about treatment and care. I mean they expect the services to be of high quality and to be done as soon as possible.“ (p13).Most participants stated that medical tourists have different levels of expectations. The nurses asserted that most international patients have higher levels of expectations than Iranian patients for different reasons, so identifying patients’ expectations and meeting their needs is very important in the safe acceptance of patients. In this regard, a male participant with 30 years of nursing experience stated:“Because these patients pay more money than Iranian patients, they think they can have any expectations. They expected to bring dogs and cats to their room. Whatever we said, this is a hospital. You got a private room to be comfortable, but you cannot keep animals in the hospital” (p12).Among patients’ expectations, we can refer to their insistence on keeping a pet in the hospital, the expectation of speeding up and facilitating medical services, providing care as soon as possible, etc. Safe acceptance of patients occurs when their expectations are determined and steps are taken to satisfy them. In this respect, participant number 12, who had 15 years of work experience and three years of work experience at the international patient department, stated:The present study aimed to explain the safe acceptance in the nurses’ cultural care of medical tourists in Iran. From the participant’s point of view, the safe acceptance of foreign patients can be classified into 5 categories of “trust building”, “safety”, " Comforting Communication”, “stress control” and " Responding to inconsistent expectations “.The first category identified in this study was trust building. Trust is essential for effective interpersonal relationships and social life. Patients’ trust in healthcare providers is at the core of healthcare services, which improves patients’ health and well-being . In thisAnother category found in this study was “safety”. Safety has a Latin root, which means “not to have fear and worry”. Therefore, the literal meaning of safety is “freedom from danger, threat, damage, anxiety, panic, fear, and worry or existence of peace, assurance, comfort, trust and safety”. Maslow asserted that each of the emotional, cognitive, and expressive needs is considered valid, and this fact is as true for the love of truth or certainty as it is in the interest of safety . AccordiMaintaining comforting communication was one of the categories extracted in the present study. Having no language knowledge, improper contact with the healthcare staff, and lack of knowledge about the treatment process were among the categories that caused patients to lose comfort and peace, become aggressive, and sometimes cry. Wensley et al. (2020) conducted a study entitled “Maximizing Comfort: How do patients describe important care?“ One of the categories that they extracted was cultural communication; According to the participants in the study, patients are relieved when their culture is known, and their beliefs and values are respected. They also found that considering patients’ spiritual and religious beliefs from a cultural view prepares comfort and makes peace in them . Accordi“Stress control” was one of the categories extracted in the present study. Stress is a central concept in biology and is now widely used in psychological, physiological, social, and even environmental research. However, the concept of stress is used to refer to various components of the stress system, including stressful stimuli, stressors, reactions to stress, and the effect of mutual stress . In the Responding to inconsistent expectations was another category related to the safe acceptance of patients in the present study. International patients have different expectations, and identifying and responding to those expectations is one category that contributes to safe patient acceptance. Hwang et al. (2018) conducted a study on the experiences of medical tourists before, during, and after hospitalization, and found that patients initially have certain expectations that meeting creates positive or even negative images in them. Positive and correct interaction is an important category to satisfy the expectations of medical tourists . Miller This study also had limitations. The results of the present study, like any other qualitative study, may not be generalized to other communities or contexts. The Covid-19 pandemic created many challenges for the researcher. The borders were closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. All departments of international patients exchanged to the Covid-19 department. On the other hand, the nurses were exhausted and engaged in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, and the hospitals did not allow research.The results of the present study showed that safe acceptance of cultural care is a key and significant factor in medical tourism. Trust building, safety, comforting communication, stress control, and responding to inconsistent expectations are important categories in realizing the safe acceptance of medical tourists. Nurses are aware of the categories that are effective in cultural care and safe acceptance of medical tourists, and they take the necessary measures to achieve safe acceptance. It is suggested to use quantitative studies to investigate the concepts extracted in this study and evaluate the current situation of medical tourism, especially in Iran.