Global attention increasingly centres on educational quality, with a particular emphasis on teachers' professional development as a potentially crucial pathway to improvement. This focus reflects the understanding that teachers are critical actors in enhancing both teaching quality and student learning outcomes. The modern educational landscape demands that teachers possess reflective skills, versatility, and comprehensive subject matter knowledge to navigate its growing complexity. However, research has revealed concerning findings about the effectiveness of traditional professional development approaches. Despite mandatory staff development activities being commonplace in many countries, research on formal professional learning initiatives often yield disappointing results. Moreover, while teacher professional development remains highly valued, significant gaps persist in our understanding of how teachers learn within their workplace environment. This disconnect between institutional investment in formal professional development and its practical impact highlights the need for a deeper examination of informal professional approaches to teacher learning and growth. Informal learning often occurs through interactions with actors in a teacher’s network. These actors are known to be significant sources of professional learning, as the exchange of or accessibility to resources are important antecedents of professional informal learning. These relations can be of a formal nature, e.g. mentors or coaches, but also of a more informal nature wherein one may inadvertently exert influence without explicit awareness. This can be found when examining role models. Role models are behavioural models who, based on their perceived similarity, influence individuals’ achievements by acting as representations of the possible. Beginning research on this topic hints on the fact that identification with role models significantly influences individual’s professional growth, as role models provide a source of learning though tacit knowledge. Despite research hinting on the relevance of role models within several professional contexts, there is a significant lack of theorisation on the relevance of role models within the professional context of teachers.

This research, titled " Teachers as Role Models for Teachers: An Integrated Theoretical Framework on Informal Learning Agents", employs a two-phase mixed-methods approach to understand the role of role models as informal learning agents in teachers' professional developmental networks. The first phase consists of a systematic scoping study addressing how role models are characterized in recent literature (2004-2024) in relation to professional learning in the professional context. Systematic scoping reviews are used to clarify key concepts in the literature and identify key characteristics or factors related to a concept, which is useful given the unclarity regarding role models. This foundational investigation established a new integrated theoretical framework as informal learning agents by identifying key characteristics of role models in professional learning environments and even identifying key building blocks of the role modelling process. Building on these insights, the second phase implemented a multiple case study (n=15), focussing on how teachers characterize their role models as learning agents within their own professional networks. Through targeted interviews designed to map professional developmental networks, the study further developed our new integrated framework that conceptualizes role models as informal learning agents. This innovative approach combines the theoretical domains of the role model theory and social network perspective in educational contexts. The research contributes to our understanding of informal professional learning mechanisms and provides a contemporary perspective on how role models function within educational settings. By examining the intersection of professional development networks and informal learning processes, the study bridges theoretical perspectives while offering practical insights into teacher professional learning methodologies and principles. The resulting integrated framework enhances our comprehension of how teachers interact with and learn from role models as informal learning agents within their professional networks, potentially informing future approaches to teacher professional development and network-based learning strategies.

This study employed a two-phase mixed-methods design to understand the role of role models as informal learning agents in teachers' professional developmental networks. The first phase consists of a systematic scoping study addressing how role models are characterized in recent literature (2004-2024) in relation to professional learning in the professional context. This study was conducted in the databases of Web Of Science, ProQuest and PsycNet, using the CADIMA-software to structure and organize this review study. Scoping reviews are used to clarify key concepts in the literature and identify key characteristics or factors related to a concept and typically pose different kinds of questions than systematic reviews making inclusion/ exclusion criteria based on different parameters. This study did not seek to answer a precise question but rather to explore concepts related to role modelling in the professional context and mapping how these concepts are discussed across different studies. Thus, based on the need to map the existing evidence regarding role models in the professional context, a scoping review was the most appropriate design to map existing literature. The results of this scoping were analysed in NVIVO using thematic analyses and established a new integrated theoretical framework on role models as informal learning agents by identifying key characteristics of role models in professional developmental networks and even identifying key building blocks of the role modelling process. Building on these insights, the second phase implemented an exploratory multiple case study (n=15), focussing on how teachers characterize their role models as informal learning agents within their own professional networks. Three Flemish primary schools were approached and selected in which respectively 5 teachers were interviewed through targeted semi-structured interviews, based on the concentric circles method, designed to map professional developmental networks. These results were also analysed using thematic analyses in NVIVO using thematic analyses. The outcomes of these interviews further shaped our understanding of the key characteristics of role models in professional developmental networks and highlighted how effective role model could potentially be identified. Therefore, this study further developed our new integrated framework on role models as informal learning agents.

This study led to a new integrated theoretical framework on role models as informal learning agents by identifying key characteristics of role models in professional learning environments and even identifying key building blocks of the role modelling process. A first framework showcases key characteristics of a role model as an informal learning agent in the professional context, divided over three separate dimensions. These dimensions and examples of underlying characteristics are: social/ affective dimension (e.g. good communicator, element of trust and cooperative nature), professional/ behavioural dimension (e.g. high professional standards, work-life balance and demonstrating leadership) and cognitive dimension (e.g expertise and being a lifelong learner). When looking at these domains and their underlying characteristics two remarks are important. First, exactly which characteristics from which domains and which combinations of characteristics are sought in a role model is entirely dependent on the specific learning needs of the professional. This also means that the notion of who or what can be seen as an effective role model changes over time as the learning needs of professionals also evolve over time. Second, all these domains and their underlying characteristics are perceived by the professional whose identifying their role models. A second framework demonstrates an integrated theoretical framework on role modelling in the professional context, highlights ways in which the personal variables of the characteristics of both the professional and the role model interact with context variables such as relationship characteristics, interpersonal skills of both actors and the organizational structure/ institutional facilities. This interplay between both the personal and the context variables then leads to resources with influence the outcomes for the role model, professional and the organisation. While further research is needed to understand the nature of these exchanged resources, this study offers preliminary insights into (effective) role modelling in professional contexts.

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