The project deals with two questions: (i) which knowledge sources teacher regard to be important for their professional development, and (ii) how school governance affect teachers’ professional development. (i) All knowledge sources are actors in the school system, which aim to form the role of the school and the teachers. For this reason it is very interesting to investigate which knowledge sources teachers prefer for their professional development. A perspective like this can show how teachers are agents of their own professional development. It can illustrate what influences and affects teachers’ work and to what extent in general teachers are open to ideas and reform. Here no established research exist. (ii) When teachers accommodate their work to the organizational framework and to their social assignment, it is interesting to investigate how school governance instruments, which also characterize the school system, affect teachers’ professional development. To which extent do teachers feel that curricula, national assessment, their education or their own principal affect their professional development? This can show how school reform and teachers professional development are connected to each other. Understanding how and why different school systems determine teachers’ professional development culture can yield awareness of how and why certain ideas of change and professional development are successfull. But how can the influence of the school system be investigated? The conditions under which teachers work, however, differ: e.g., sociocultural characteristics, school forms or subjects, teacher´s education as well as school governance affect the profession of teaching. Still, a distinguishable professional culture of teachers exists (Feiman-Nemser & Floden, 1991; Lortie, 1975). This culture is mainly based on the particularities of teaching heterogeneous groups and is particularly dependent on organizational frame factors on the school level (school climate and school faculty) (Hoy et al., 1996; Hoy & Sabo, 1997) and school system level (school governance structures) (Berg, 1993; Berg, 2000; Broadfoot et al., 1993). Considering a common professional culture also a common professional development culture of teachers is assumed. Professional development means systematic knowledge acquisition, which is directed towards the development of the teaching profession, i.e. the reflection and change of professional practice, in particular instruction methods. Important to note here is what teachers do on their own. The perspective is shifted from traditional forms of professional development, which is organized by principals for their staff. Teachers are seen as agents in a self-determined development (Villegas-Reimers, 2003). An international comparison will help to answer the question of influence of the school system on this kind of culture. Through comparing different school systems, especially concerning the school governance structures, it can be shown how organizational frame factors influence the professional practice of teachers. A German-Swedish comparison is particularly interesting here. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the school governance regimes used in both countries have been almost contrary. Strategies that were implemented in Sweden at the beginning of the 1990s have now begun to be implemented in Germany as “new steering instruments” (Bellmann, 2006).

Based on expert interviews with teachers’, principals, researcher and policy makers in the field of teachers’ professional development a questionnaire for a quantitative survey has been developed. The professional development culture of teachers is to be understood as a summary of what they do for their professional development (practices) and what they think about different aspects of professional development (beliefs, perceptions). The sample comprises 201 teachers in 16 schools in the county of Stockholm/Sweden, and 217 teachers in 13 schools in Berlin/Germany.

The results show that a broader professional development definition is more appropriate to show what teachers do for their development. They have certain attitudes toward knowledge sources, and they act as agents in their professional development. They choose certain offers and reject others. Furthermore the idea of a professional development culture seems appropriate to describe the relations between teachers professional development attitudes and practises and the influence of the school system. Cooperation with the own colleagues is most important for teachers in both countries. Some of the actors – who act as knowledge sources for teachers’ professional development in the school system – have an important influence on teachers; they succeed to influence the school and find their way into the everyday practice of teachers. Here important differences occur between both countries, when it comes to the openness of teachers towards influence of knowledge sources, which are regarded as actors, from outside the school. Swedish teachers are much more open than their German colleagues in general but especially toward universities and institutions for school steering.