In December 2014 the US Secretary of State John Kerry said: "Democracy is not a final destination; it is an endless journey." If democracy is a work in progress in the USA then it must be true for many parts of the world. However, democracy is not just about matters such as the fairness of elections or respect for the rule of law. The quality of democracy can be judged by ‘mediating values’ such as participation and solidarity (Landman et al., 2008). The human rights lawyers and the legislators have key roles to play, but in this symposium we focus on the contribution that teachers can play in building the ‘democratic way of life’ that John Dewey argued for.

'The key-note of democracy as a way of life may be expressed, it seems to me, as the necessity for the participation of every mature human being in formation of the values that regulate the living of men together: which is necessary from the standpoint of both the general social welfare and the full development of human beings as individuals' (Dewey, 1937).

Research tells us that the crucial variable in educational success is the quality of teaching (OECD, 2005) but too often recommendations emanating from this research neglect the question of teachers’ constructions of their professional identity and their mode of professionality. The contributors to this symposium share a common interest in the development and evaluation of strategies to address this question. These focus on a conception of professionality in which teachers, regardless of any formal position in the organisation of their school, are able to be self-directed, to influence their colleagues and develop practice in their schools by exercising leadership.

Contributors to this symposium are drawn from network of people linked by their involvement in the International Teacher Leadership initiative (Frost, 2011) and a programme of research focusing on Central Asia. The team of presenters includes four experienced university based academics, three activists in NGOs, a research fellow and four doctoral students who are also experienced practitioners. The symposium presents an opportunity not only for members of the team to share related papers with the European research community but also to extend their own international networking and discourse about the fundamental questions to do with the future of the teaching profession.

Some of the papers in this 2 part symposium report on research and development initiatives which feature programmes of support for teacher leadership. Others report on research focusing on dimensions of teacher professional identity. In all the papers reflect experience and research in more than 9 countries spanning the EU, the Middle East and Central Asia, including the Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Macedonia (FYR), Moldova, Palestine, Portugal, Spain and the UK. Many of these papers arise from the monitoring and evaluation of well-established teacher leadership programmes and others on other dimensions of teacher professionality.

The approach to this symposium will be an interactive one in which papers are presented in such a way as to enable participants to engage in discussion and pose their own questions.  The commitment to fostering critical dialogue is one that is shared amongst the presenters and these values will be evident in the way the symposium is structured and facilitated. The discussant will contribute a synthesis that will address the theme reflected in the title of the symposium.

Dewey, J. (1937) ‘Democracy and Educational Administration’, School and Society 45 (April 3); 457-67 Frost, D. (2012) From professional development to system change: teacher leadership and innovation, Professional Development in Education (special issue on Teacher Leadership and Professional Development) 38 (2) pp. 205-227. OECD (2005) Teachers Matter: Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers, Paris: OECD.