Research Question

Impact analyses and evaluations of professional development programmes are mainly scheduled during or at the end of a particular programme. They aim at and provide results regarding immediate and short-term effects. However, apart from and beyond that, an analysis of sustainable effects is crucial. To address this issue, this contribution deals with the central question: What is the sustainable impact of professional development programmes? Theoretical models and empirical findings are introduced. In particular, this contribution provides a case study’s results regarding an Austrian professional development programmes’ impact. Here, the factors which foster or hinder the sustainability of impact are in the focus. Finally, implications for professional development programmes’ implementation and research are discussed.

Theoretical Framework

The question of how to promote mathematics teachers’ professional development has been discussed in various papers (e.g. Krainer and Zehetmeier 2013; Loucks-Horsley et al. 1996; Sowder 2007; Zehetmeier 2015; Zehetmeier and Krainer 2011). In this context, the question of impact is of particular relevance. Evaluations and impact analyses of professional development programmes are mostly conducted during or at the end of a project and exclusively provide results regarding short-term effects. These findings are highly relevant for critical reflection of the terminated project and necessary for the conception of similar projects in the future (Fullan 2006). However, apart from and beyond that, an analysis of sustainable effects is crucial (Loucks-Horsley et al. 1996). Despite its central importance for both teachers and teacher educators, research on sustainable impact is generally lacking within teacher education disciplines (Datnow 2006; Rogers 2003). This kind of sustainability analysis is often missing because of a lack of material, financial and personal resources (McLaughlin and Mitra 2001; Hargreaves 2002).

The expected impacts of professional development programmes are not only focused on short-term effects that occur during or at the end of the project, but also on long-term effects that emerge (even after some years) after the project’s termination. Effects that are both short-term and long-term can be considered to be sustainable. Sustainability may refer to both system and/or individual level. Sustainability can be defined as the lasting continuation of achieved benefits and effects of a project or initiative beyond its termination (DEZA 2002).

Empirical evidence concerning the impact of professional development programmes points to the finding that “prior large-scale improvement efforts (…) have rarely produced lasting changes in either teachers’ instructional practices or the organization of schools” (Cobb and Smith 2008, p. 232). Thus, it seems reasonable to focus on factors which might foster the broad effects and scale-up of professional development programmes’ innovations. Cobb and Smith (2008) highlight networks, shared vision and mutual accountability as key factors.

Teacher networks are described, for example, as groups of colleagues who provide social support in developing demanding instructional practices; this affords time built into the school schedule for collaboration among teachers and access to colleagues who have already developed relatively accomplished instructional practices.

Moreover, a shared vision of high quality instruction fosters the scale-up of impact: this includes a shared vision concerning the question of instructional goals (what pupils should know and be able to do) and the question of how pupils’ development of these forms of knowing can be supported.

Another key factor which fosters the scale-up of innovations and impact in teacher education is mutual accountability. This means, for example, that if school leaders hold teachers accountable for developing high-quality instructional practices, then – in turn – school leaders are mutually accountable to teachers for supporting teachers’ learning.

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