Role of School Leadership in Learning at Work and Professional Development in Three European Countries

In research into teacher training professional development and learning at work are used more or less interchangeably. It is sensible to distinguish, although the concepts are related to each other, teacher learning from a broader concept of professional development. This paper explores the relationships between learning at work and professional develop. The both concepts are examined from the perspective whether motivation for INSET, job content, school leadership and professional orientation have a bearing on learning at work and professional development. The paper presents results of questionnaire data (N=736) gathered from three countries: Finland, Serbia and Montenegro and Portugal. Professional development is better indicated by such demographic factors as gender, age and size of municipality than cross-country differences. The data was modelled by performing a LISREL analysis. A model, which stressed the importance of school leadership in professional development, had a good fit on data. School leadership influences through teachers' professional orientation learning at work