Understanding teachers’ professional learning goals from their current professional concerns

Figures & data

Table 1. Background characteristics of selected teachers.

Teacher pseudonym (male/female)	Years of teaching experience	Subject domain
Alex (m)	1	Modern languages	EARLY-CAREER
Hanna (f)	1	Modern languages
Alissa (f)	3	Dutch language
Johan (m)	4	Biology
Erik (m)	4	Philosophy
Helen (f)	7	Biology	MID-CAREER
Nicole (f)	10	Modern languages
Vera (f)	12	Dutch language
Ferdinand (m)	13	Chemistry
Bart (m)	15	Philosophy & English
Rick (m)	19	Physics	LATE-CAREER
Hester (f)	25	Economics
Lois (f)	28	Modern languages
Caspar (m)	30	Mathematics
Karel (m)	34	Geography

Table 2. Two sample concern-goal pairs from the conceptually clustered data matrix.

Vera	Learning goals^a	Professional concerns (card themes)	Coherence between professional concerns and leaning goals
Pair 1	1 Continuous development on content knowledge and students’ learning	• Contact between teacher and student • Focus on good teaching • Focus on students’ learning process	I’m continuously developing on students’ learning process and having an eye for individuals → Plus it feels rewarding to develop good lessons → these are your main tasks as a teacher
Pair 2	1 Coaching beginning teachers	• Search for new challenges	I’m in search of new challenges to prevent working on routine (plus I want to stay motivated until I’m 66) → You can of course deepen or broaden the things you already do, but you can also start something new → that’s how I’m now learning about coaching beginning students and guiding special needs students
	2 Guiding special needs students

^a Number codes indicate the content of the learning goal, 1 = classroom-context, 2 = school-context, 3 = the teacher as professional.

Table 3. Overview of concern-goal pairs for early-, mid-, and late-career teachers.

	Continuous concern-goal pairs		Growth and improvement concern-goal pairs		Work-management concern-goal pairs
	Learning which requires continuous development		Learning for personal growth and improvement of (teaching) skills		Learning to manage work practices
	Teacher	Short description	Teacher	Short description	Teacher	Short description
EARLY CAREER	Johan	Continuous evolution of teaching skills > updating complex instruction & activating students (1)	Hanna	Focus on students’ needs > learn about differentiation and anticipating students’ answers (1)	Hanna	High work load in combination with moral obligations > organize school work and pay attention to work-life balance (3)
	Erik	Feel strongly committed to school which is crucial to work here > need to be aware that school also manages without me (3)	Hanna	Restoring disturbed relationships with students (1)	Alissa	Tough combination of studying and work > manage work load and ask for compensation (3)
			Hanna	Stable position in school organization > curriculum development and mentoring (1 & 2)
			Alex	Ambition: become excellent teacher > optimize differentiation & handling student misconduct (1)	Erik	Guarding boundaries is necessary to be able to develop into a good teacher (1)
			Alex	Challenging myself in designing language skills assignments (1)
			Alissa	Ambition: Teach upper grades (pedagogies & content knowledge) (1)
			Erik	To become a good teacher > activating instruction, differentiation, subject content (1)
MID CAREER	Helen	Never finish learning about communication with students (1)	Vera	Start something new > coaching beginning teachers & guiding special needs students (2)	Nicole	Burn-out 3.5 years ago > indicate boundaries and worry less about interpersonal situations (3)
	Helen	Students’ learning process is your main task as a teacher (1)	Ferdinand	Incident with student & changing schools > control emotions & better assess student behavior (1 & 3)	Bart	Professional identity and contact with students > professional ethics in online communication (3)
	Vera	Continuous learning & main task as teacher (1)	Bart	Invest in curriculum development > organizational skills & instruction (2)	Bart	Professional identity and reassessing myself as teacher > ‘where am I in teaching?’ (3)
	Bart	Always adapting instruction and learning about subject (1)
LATE CAREER	Hester	Daily learning about subject through lesson preparation and reflection on the lessons (1)	Rick	Focus on coaching and contact with students > monitoring students’ progress (1)	Rick	In recovery after burn out > focus on planning and work-life-study balance (3)
	Caspar	To be a good teacher > always maintain good contact with students and stay connected with their world (1)	Rick	Focus on students’ learning and instruction > varying instruction (1)	Hester	Task description is full > Learn to say ‘no’ to tasks that are outside teaching (3)
			Lois	Laptops in classroom > exploring digital content to motivate students (1)
			Lois	Experiment with instruction > assessment of language skills (1)
			Caspar	Laptops in classroom > different classroom management (1)
			Karel	Conscious of my role in enhancing students’ learning > motivate students for my subject and integrate content and the ‘real world’ (1)
			Karel	Conscious of my role in enhancing students’ learning > how students learn to learn (1)

Notes:

Number codes in the short description refer to the content of teachers’ learning goals, 1 = classroom-context, 2 = school-context, 3 = teacher as professional.

Table

Origin	Professional life theme
Day/Huberman	Survival
Huberman	Learning from trial and error
Day	Commitment to colleagues
Day	Commitment to school
Day	Focus on good teaching
Day	Support from colleagues
Day	Acceptance in the school
Fuller	Being in control of my teaching
Fuller/Huberman	Focus on self during teaching
Fuller	Focus on students’ learning process
Fuller	Focus on instructional strategies
Berliner	Being conscious of my own role in class
Huberman	Classroom management
Day	Knowing what kind of teacher I am
Huberman	Feelings of independence
Berliner	Being able to distinguish what deserves most attention in class
Day	Work-life balance
Day/Huberman	Searching for new challenges
Day	Changes in tasks and responsibilities
Day/Huberman	Changes in professional identity
Huberman	Experimenting with instruction
Huberman	Personal ambitions
F&C	Indicating my boundaries
Day	Motivation for my job
Day	Work load
Huberman	Teaching is easy
Huberman	Invest in my own development
Huberman	Contact between teacher and student
Day/Huberman	Career exit
F&C	Teaching as calling
F&C	Working within task description
Day/Huberman	External policies and innovations
Day/Huberman	Undesirable pupil behavior