The aging population in the European Union is increasing permanently. In the year 1960 the amount of seniors formed 10,6% of the whole population, in 2005 it was 23% and in the year 2050 it could be according to the forecast of Eurostat form 27% (Eurostat, 2010) of the whole population. This brings along one solution to recruit and train elderly work force. However, this recommendation requires changes in culture and especially paradigmatic change among managers: elderly workforce is not dependant on others (Pincas, 2007) but senior employees require different approaches. In order to keep senior teachers progressive and professionally developed employers should pay attention to their growth. Therefore, it is vital to know what influence teachers´ wish to learn, and notice the factors that support learning

Relying on the above mentioned there has been risen the following research question:

How can school managers support the professional development of senior teachers at Estonian colleges and vocational educational institutions.

In order to solve the research question one should understand two issues:

1. How senior teachers themselves describe their professional development; and
2. What is the awareness of school management on the professional development of senior teacher.

The main aim of the work is to describe the awareness of the management of colleges and vocational schools about the professional development of senior  teachers.

It is not easy to define professional development. It depends on cultural and socio-economic environment and is entwined with teachers´ private and professional life. It is also connected with school environment and school culture (Campbell, McNamara & Gilory, 2004).

Moreover, there are not many studies which handle senior teachers´ (starting from the age 60+) professional development. However, many studies have been implemented on teachers´ and especially on novice teachers´ professional development (, L., Berliner, E., Hirsch, S., Kennedy, A., Hawkins, D., L., Lawless, K., A., Pellegrino, J., W., Murphy, G., A., Calway, T., Lange,J., D., Burroughs-Lange, S., G., Pincas, A., Coldwell,M., Simkins, T). Therefore, the general concept of the professional development for senior teachers follows the concept of professional development for teachers as a whole.

In the present paper the professional development is understood as an individual process which is influenced by individual factors and shaped by contextual factors, whereas the most controversial influencer is the changing essence of profession.  

The work follows the phenomenographic approach, which aim is to describe, analyse and understand persons´ experience, to see how persons´ themselves think about the phenomena.

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