Birgitte Lund Nielsen

A QUEST for sustainable continuing professional development

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) can be a crucial factor in improving teaching, and student learning (Little in Professional community and professional development in the learning-centered school. National Education Association NEA, Washington, 2006). Extant research suggests consensus pertaining to the core features of effective CPD including content focus, active learning, coherence, duration, collaborative activities and collective participation (Desimone in Educ Researcher 38(3):181–199, 2009; van Driel et al. in Stud Sci Educ, 48(2):129–160, 2012). More typically, however, teachers experience professional development as episodic, superficial and disconnected from their day-to-day teaching and recurring problems of practice (Little in Professional community and professional development in the learning-centered school. National Education Association NEA, Washington, 2006). Even when CPD-programs are designed according to the mentioned consensus criteria, there is often a lack of knowledge about the sustainability of the effects (Avalos in Teach Teacher Educ 27(1):10–20, 2011).