A professional learning community constitutes a group of professionals who together examine their professional knowledge and activities and discuss them in an attempt to improve their work. A professional learning community eliminates physical and psychological isolating obstacles and creates opportunities for professional and personal development (Buysse, Sparkman, & Wesley, 2003; DuFour, DuFour, & Eaker, 2008). There are various ways to conduct professional learning communities in education (Harris & Jones, 2010; Potts & Schlichting, 2011): in some, participation is voluntary whereas it is obligatory in others; some communities study a particular topic (Linder, Post, & Calabrese, 2012), and others focus on teaching (Bond, 2013). Some meet face-to-face, while others work in a virtual environment; some work in particular institutes and others go beyond organizational boundaries in an attempt to attain a sweeping system-wide change (Harris & Jones, 2010).

Within teacher education, Hadar and Brody (2013) found that participation in a professional community of teacher educators increased members' sense of self-efficacy, their professional knowledge has broadened and deepened, and their teaching has improved. In the Netherlands, the professional organization of teacher educators, VELON, has developed professional standards for teacher educators, three of which are relevant for learning communities: constant professional development, working with colleagues within the organization, and working with professional networks beyond the organization (Koster & Dengerink, 2008). Nevertheless, the existing literature emphasizes that teacher educators must cope with a professional development course that is not methodical; many gaps exist between the demands of the role and the training teacher educators have had, and there are few opportunities offered throughout their career for developing professionally and improving practices (Dengerink, Lunenberg & Kools, 2015; Lunenberg & Willemse, 2006).

The MOFET Institute was established by Israel's Ministry of Education in order to create and disseminate knowledge in teacher education, and provide teacher educators with opportunities for professional development.  Through The Institute, several professional development communities have been established, whose members hold parallel high-ranking positions at the various teacher-education colleges throughout the country, e.g., heads of pre-service education programs (such as early childhood education, elementary school, etc.), heads of discipline-based departments (for teaching English, sciences, mathematics and so forth), and other functional officials (for example school of education deans and heads of programs for excellent students). Some communities also include representatives from universities and from the Ministry of Education. The professional activities in these unique communities include discussion of professional issues, thinking cooperatively about current challenges, and collaborating on position papers and research. A member of the community acts as coordinator, for a period of at least three years.

Although intercollegiate professional development communities have been functioning under the auspices of The Mofet Institute for over 20 years, the amount of research on this topic has been very small. One assessment study conducted in 2007 (Welicker-Pollak, Goldenberg & Klibanski, 2007) found that participants rated the communities' contribution to their professional development as medium-high. About one half of the interviewed officials reported that they did not attend meetings on a regular basis, because they were irrelevant to their practical work and didn't satisfy their professional development needs. The fact that the research literature in general emphasizes the potential contribution of professional communities and the importance of cross-institutional cooperation raise the question of how to structure the activities of these communities so as to maximize their potential benefits. More specifically, the current study addressed the following questions: what constitutes a successful professional community and what are the factors that may contribute to its success or hinder it? Which characteristics of the professional community coordinators help them lead the community to function successfully?

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