ABSTRACT
Professional development is key to enabling the interactions at the organisational edge to work best, empowering staff to build the knowledge, practices and tools that can help them to help students. Professional learning relies on focused experimentation in the classroom and then evaluating, refining and adapting practice. Success in professional learning, effective practice, teacher and student successes are out of reach if there are widespread threats and challenges that staff feel unable to deal with. This chapter explores different aspects of processes around professional learning which contribute to a positive and supportive culture. Effective professional learning contributes to a positive culture; it enables increased confidence, self-efficacy and improved morale amongst teachers. In earlier research, Johnson, Kraft and Papay found that whilst a multitude of factors influenced job satisfaction for teachers, trust, respect and openness were vital aspects of culture in schools that were improving.
