Knowledge society and globalization (Cornali & Tirocchi, 2012) have redefined the role of learning in individuals' lives. In response to the imperative of lifelong learning (European Commission, 2001; OECD, 2003), education is expanding both temporally (beyond initial training) and spatially (diversifying learning environments) (Mangez et al., 2021). The teaching profession is no exception to this dynamic: initial training is no longer considered sufficient to ensure a long-term career and teachers’ professional development (TPD) is now regarded as a key lever for improving education systems (Borko et al., 2010).

In this context, educational policies have positioned schools as central sites for TPD. Collaborative work (Lipscombe et al., 2020) and professional learning communities (Meeuwen et al., 2020) are increasingly promoted as essential resources for “workplace learning” (Imants & van Veen, 2010). These developments have led researchers to explore the specificities of informal learning (Lecat et al., 2020) compared to more traditional formal learning (training courses or workshops). As such, studies highlight the influence of pedagogical practices and interactions between teachers or school leaders on teacher learning.

This body of work has reinforced a dual normative perspective on TPD: schools as the primary learning spaces and colleagues as preferred co-learners. Teachers’ workplace learning has in this sense been examined in terms of the organizational and cultural conditions that foster a "supportive" (Flores, 2005), or "expansive" (Fuller & Unwin, 2006) learning environment.

However, this school-centered perspective overlooks a critical reality: a significant part of teachers’ work occurs outside the school, generating additional learning opportunities. Some researchers have investigated these informal learning experiences outside institutional settings, referred to as "off-the-record training" (Maulini et al., 2021). Nevertheless, the literature on teacher learning appears fragmented, often focusing on specific processes (reflection, interaction), particular mechanisms (co-teaching, professional communities), or isolated contextual factors (leadership, school culture). This segmentation prevents a comprehensive understanding of learning opportunities and their interconnections (Opfer & Pedder, 2011).

To overcome this fragmentation, we adopt an integrated approach that allows for an analysis of teachers' learning across various spatial and temporal contexts. Using the co-participation framework of Billett (2001), our research questions the school as the privileged environment for TPD by adopting an expanded vision of the workplace. Rather than limiting our focus to school organizations, we examine teachers and the multiple spaces – school-based, personal, and virtual – where they engage in professional activities (Enthoven et al., 2023).

Methodologically, we have adopted a comprehensive qualitative approach, interviewing mid-career teachers and conducting two case studies in contrasting schools. Our objective is to identify the learning opportunities they engage with daily and to assess the role of the school in these dynamics. Ultimately, our study aims to better understand the interplay between different learning modalities and to critically examine the centrality of schools in TPD.

Two phases proved to be complementary in analyzing and understanding the phenomenon of professional learning. In the first phase, we focused on individuals and adopted a phenomenological approach (Creswell, 2016), interviewing 37 mid-career teachers about the professional learning opportunities they engage with daily. We took care to select a diverse sample of teachers who share the common characteristic of having between 10 and 25 years of teaching experience and working in secondary education (ages 12–18). This phase was conducted using a semi-structured interview guide. In the second phase, we examined the phenomenon from the perspective of school organizations and conducted two contrasting case studies (Yin, 2018) in schools with distinct organizational cultures. This approach allowed us to understand how school characteristics influence the engagement of teachers in various internal and external learning opportunities. This phase was conducted using observations, document analysis and four focus-group interviews.

Our research led to the formulation of the hypothesis of seeing professional learning as a landscape (professional learning landscape), in line with Wenger-Trayner and colleagues' (2015) concept of “landscape of practice”. Thus, rather than focusing on a professional learning community, it appears (following analysis of the data from the first phenomenological phase), that teachers travel, often self-navigating, in a landscape that contains numerous professional learning opportunities, whether provided by the school organization but also by the private and virtual spheres. Teachers frequent multiple learning communities and turn out to be border crossers. In this sense, as the analysis of the results of the second methodological phase shows, the school can appear, in the best of cases, as a crossroads, a place and a moment of encounter for the individual trajectories of the teachers who work there. The virtualization of teaching work appears paradoxical here, acting as both a centrifugal force (attraction to external resources) and a centripetal force (ease of grasping internal resources) in relation to the school establishment. The school workplace doesn't necessarily appear as a landmark in the landscape, but other actors or institutions, such as virtual pedagogical influencers or novice teachers, do have a role to play.

Billett, S. (2001). Learning through work: Workplace affordances and individual engagement. Journal of Workplace Learning, 13(5), 209 214. https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000005548 Borko, H., Jacobs, J., & Koellner, K. (2010). Contemporary approaches to teacher professional development. In P. Peterson, E. Baker, & B. McGaw (Eds.), International encyclopedia of education (3rd ed., p. 548 556). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-044894-7.00654-0 Cornali, F., & Tirocchi, S. (2012). Globalization, education, information and communication technologies: what relationships and reciprocal influences?. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 47, 2060-2069. Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2016). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Sage publications. Enthoven, S., März, V., & Dupriez, V. (2023). Context matters: A meta-ethnographic study on teachers’ workplace learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 132, p.104224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2023 Flores, M. A. (2005). How do teachers learn in the workplace? Findings from an empirical study carried out in Portugal. Journal of In-service Education, 31(3), 485 508. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674580500200491 Fuller, A., & Unwin, L. (2006). Applying the expansive-restrictive framework. In K. Evans, P. Hodkinson, H. Rainbird, & L. Unwin (Eds.), Improving workplace learning (p. 49-67). Routledge. Imants, J., & van Veen, K. (2010). Teacher learning as workplace learning. In P. Peterson, E. Baker, & B. McGaw (Eds.), International encyclopedia of education (3rd ed., p. 569 574). Elsevier. Lecat, A., Spaltman, Y., Beausaert, S., Raemdonck, I., & Kyndt, E. (2020). Two decennia of research on teachers’ informal learning: A literature review on definitions and measures. Educational Research Review, 30, 1-15. Lipscombe, K., Buckley-Walker, K., & McNamara, P. (2020). Understanding collaborative teacher teams as open systems for professional development. Professional Development in Education, 46(3), 373-390. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2019.1613256 Mangez, E., & Broeck, P. V. (2021). The history of the future and the shifting forms of education. In M. Decuypere & P. Vanden Broeck (Eds.), Education in Flux (pp. 83-94). Routledge. Maulini, O. (2021). La formation continue et le développement professionnel des personnels d’éducation : Comparaisons internationales, tensions structurelles et perspectives d’évolution. Centre national d’étude des systèmes scolaires. https://cnam.hal.science/hal-03245293/document Meeuwen, P. V., Huijboom, F., Rusman, E., Vermeulen, M., & Imants, J. (2020). Towards a comprehensive and dynamic conceptual framework to research and enact professional learning communities in the context of secondary education. European Journal of Teacher Education, 43(3), 405 427. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2019.1693993 Opfer, V. D., & Pedder, D. (2011). Conceptualizing teacher professional learning. Review of Educational Research, 81(3), 376 407. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654311413609 Wenger-Trayner, E., Fenton-O'Creevy, M., Hutchinson, S., Kubiak, C., & Wenger-Trayner, B. (Eds.). (2014). Learning in landscapes of practice: Boundaries, identity, and knowledgeability in practice-based learning. Routledge. Yin, R. K. (2018). Case Study Research and Applications. Design and Methods (6th éd.). Cosmos corporation.