In recent years, a shift has emerged from individual teacher professionalization toward collective professional development—where teachers pursue shared learning goals aimed at improving their joint teaching practice. Research suggests that collective learning fosters innovation, increases teacher efficacy and enjoyment, and strengthens collaboration and student-centered teaching (VanGrieken et al., 2017; Hauge, 2019). Despite its promise, little is known about how collective professional development is organized within schools. The purpose of this presentation is twofold. The first aim is to provide a representative picture of how collective professional development is currently organized in Dutch primary, secondary, and vocational schools. It explores how teachers and school leaders experience the process of organizing collective learning, the challenges they face in doing so, and the perceived impact on teaching practice. The presentation of these findings is based on a large quantitative survey study and in-depth case studies in all school sectors in which both teachers and school leaders are involved. This creates the basis for the second aim of the presentation namely, to explore the tension inherent in studying the state of education on behalf of the Inspectorate of Education, an institution that itself plays a formal role in evaluating educational quality. This dual position introduces a reflective layer: while the study seeks to understand how schools organize and experience collective professional learning, it must also remain sensitive to how schools perceive the Inspectorate’s involvement, and how this may shape their responses, practices, or willingness to engage in deeper forms of collaboration. Acknowledging this tension is essential for interpreting findings and understanding the relational dynamics between schools (micro-meso), educational sectors, and the system-level actors (macro) who evaluate them. Insights from studies on the complexity of professional learning in the broader policy landscape (e.g., King et al, 2023) and ‘steeringy dynamics’ (Waslander et al., 2020) will be used for the reflection on these tensions.

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