Teachers’ professional development: a solitary or collegial (ad)venture?

Abstract

There exists nowadays consensus on the importance of teachers' professional development. Also, most authors agree that the school's workplace conditions can exert great influence on this development. In this paper the impact of two workplace conditions, autonomy and collegiality, on elementary school teachers' professional development is analysed. The qualitative research reported makes clear that this influence should be thought of in a balanced way. Certain forms of autonomy and collegiality — and more specifically certain combinations of both workplace conditions — have a far more positive influence on teachers' professional development than others.