The importance of improving schools, improving the quality of teachers' performance and improving student learning results encourages researchers to focus on teachers' professional development as one of the most important factors determining the ways of implementing these goals. The latter issues have been analyzed and researched for several decades, but they do not lose their relevance recently focusing on the possibilities, forms and conditions of teachers' empowerment for professional learning and professionalism, etc. (Krille, 2020; Desimone, 2023). Traditional systems considered ineffective, due to insufficient coherence with the specific context of the school community or classroom activities, too little attention to individual planning, specific needs of the teacher and the school itself, practical analysis of the teachers' experience and cooperation (Guskey, 2002; 2009; Cohen & Hill, 2000; Porter et al., 2001). Studies revealed that often short-term professional development seminars and trainings organized according to the priority directions of educational policies poorly meet their needs and help them adapt to changing educational circumstances (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002). Concepts of professional development are shifting from gap-filling workshops or instructional models to professional growth models in which teachers actively collaborate in exploring their practice to improve their knowledge of content, pedagogy, and students (Darling-Hammond & Richardson, 2009). Learning in the context of professional development is always more successful if it takes place as close as possible to the teacher's work environment, provides opportunities for reflection and feedback, involves the teacher's conscious commitment and uses external knowledge, e.g. consultant and/or critical friend, to increase the capacity of the service (Fullan, 2020). Structures that promote teacher development are necessary, but the most effective are those that are formed by the school community itself, based on its culture, context, teachers' experience and create opportunities for collaboration (Leu, 2004; Geijsel et al., 2009; Caena, 2011).

The research question: what happens and what changes does the teacher experience on the path of his personal and professional growth?

The purpose of the research: to reveal the experience of the teacher's professional growth in the context of the school's personal professional development system.

The research was carried out in a school where the teachers' reflective personal professional development (PPD) system has been implemented and continuously improved for more than five years. Personal professional development activities in the school, integrating the teacher's work (practical activities) and learning in the PPD model unfold through three levels: individual, group and institutional. The reflective PPD process is based on 10 provisions focused on improving student achievement, reflecting on the teacher's personal experience, creating opportunities for the teacher to improve competencies at individual, group and institutional levels, providing support and cooperation and ensuring feedback. These are ongoing, constant activities, manifested at each level as cycles, the structure of which can change depending on the specific situation The research methodology is also based on the paradigm of social constructionism (Berger, Luckmann, 1999), according to the view that reality is not self-evident and stable, it is the result of human activity. Assumptions that there is an external, objective world that does not depend on human perception and interpretations are rejected, therefore it is relevant to study knowledge and experiences that are constructed, reshaped and supported due to social interactions and human actions. 12 teachers (all women) of lower secondary education school (pro-gymnasium) in Lithuania participated in the study. Targeted criterion sampling method was applied in this study. The duration of the professional experience of the research participants and the criteria of the qualification category were taken into account, hoping that in this way the greatest possible variety of experiences and approaches to the phenomenon under consideration will be ensured. The qualitative research approach was applied in this study and focus group was chosen for data collection (Krueger & Casey, 2000; Braun, Clarke, Hayfield, & Terry, 2019). The discussion between the research participants, moderated by two researchers, arising from mutual interaction took place according to a pre-made open scenario of the main thematic questions. An inductive approach of reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006; 2023; Clark & Brown, 2013) was used to analyze the obtained results, which made it possible to identify and organize relevant themes and sub-themes, which are later used as units of analysis sequentially implementing the stages of the structured data analysis technique.

After analyzing the experience of pedagogues' professional growth at school, 4 essential latent themes were revealed, which determine the path of pedagogue's professional development and growth. Constant monitoring of their activities and self-reflection encourage teachers' personal growth by looking at their past, present and future, analyzing how their personal experiences, values and goals have changed or improved over time. This process helps teachers to better understand themselves as a person, individual traits, working style and what is important in professional activities. By accepting challenges and becoming aware of their emotional experiences, comparing what they were and what they are now, teachers identify their strengths. The change of teachers' self-image through the activities carried out by the PPD system includes their intellectual, emotional and social development. Identified latent themes are seen as interacting with each other rather than hierarchically arranged. In this research context, the professional path of a teacher is not a lonely path. The latter path is based on continuous reflection. Both actions in the personal/individual field (I THINK - REFLECT) and in practical activities (I GROW), as well as certain achievements and results (I BECOME), are obviously related to the context of the whole school, in which the pedagogue is involved. Here, from the external PPD system as a stimulus, by constantly reflecting, rethinking our activities, we travel together with others (colleagues, parents, students, administration) and thus change the SELF, also others are changing and we are changing together the same external context (organization) and the stimulus itself (PPT).

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