Although teachers’ professional development and teacher professionalism have become a central concern in national education policies, its implications for teachers and education employers are still not very well elaborated. In most European countries, CPD is not regulated (Eurydice, 2018). Competence frameworks mostly only define one competence level defining minimum quality (Eurydice, 2018). Also, most system show a lack career opportunities within the teaching profession itself (Eurydice, 2018). As a result, the call for teacher’s professional development is not reflected in system structures, leaving professional development as an individual responsibility with little consequences for teachers’ daily work. This can easily lead to frustration when teachers develop new skills, competences and qualities, but have little opportunities to apply these skills, competences and qualities. This especially becomes evident when teachers develop qualities which go beyond daily classroom teaching and deal with general quality issues in school (Snoek, 2014; Snoek, Knezic, Van den Berg, Emmelot, Heyma & Sligte, 2018). To make professional development a cornerstone of the teacher profession, it is necessary to redefine the teacher profession as a dynamic profession characterized not only by professional development, but also by development in roles, expectations and recognition. Within the Netherlands the above discussion has led to a redefinition of the teacher profession, widening the profession by adding to the role of supporter of pupils’ learning also the role of developer of teaching and learning, organizer of teaching and learning, and supporter of the learning of colleagues. The resulting model also includes different levels of teachers expertise. The resulting model (Snoek, de Wit, Dengerink, van Eldik, van der Wolk, Wirtz, 2018) provides a frame of reference and a shared language for teachers, school leaders and teacher educators, emphasizing widening or deepening teacher expertise. In the past year, the model has been widely used by teachers by school heads and by teacher educators. Using the principles of design research (Bereiter, 2002), we will elaborate the choices that have been made during the design process (actors involved, elements included, ways of communication), elaborate the main characteristics of the resulting model, its limitations, the critiques that have been collected, and the way how these critiques have been incorporated in the discussion and use of the model, and finally discuss the impact of the model in discussions on teacher careers and teacher development and the attractiveness of the profession at local and national level.

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