Professional development through teacher training

In recent years, the professionalisation of teachers has become a mainstream concept in Austria. The Austrian government is striving to make professionalism in the teaching profession a 'must-have' requirement. For this to be effectively achieved, it is necessary to define the path to professionalism - that is, professionalisation - in terms of its structure and content. Both initial teacher training and continuing professional development have evolved and been adapted to meet these standards of professionalism. Continuing professional development in particular - that is, the third phase of teacher training - has become the key instrument of professionalisation. It is hoped that this will facilitate professional growth in teachers' day-to-day work, as only the third phase reaches all teachers and can thus ensure their ongoing professional development. The following study aims to demonstrate to what extent this is actually the case for the field of continuing professional development in Austria. The objective was to determine whether Austrian teacher continuing professional development is structured in such a way as to facilitate professional growth, or whether it is merely guided by chance.