Teachers do not enter classrooms as blank slates but bring with them complex, experience-based interpretive frameworks that shape how they perceive classroom situations, interpret events, and justify pedagogical decisions (Lortie, 1975; Calderhead, 1996). Within the German research tradition, such frameworks have been conceptualised as subjektive Theorien (Groeben et al., 1988) and subsequently adapted to educational contexts as Teachers’ Subjective Theories (TSTs). TSTs have been used to capture teachers’ personal, practice-grounded ways of making sense of teaching and learning (e.g. Kelchtermans, 2009; Kindermann & Riegel, 2016).

Despite their long-standing use, TSTs remain conceptually diffuse and are inconsistently distinguished from related constructs such as teacher beliefs, teacher cognition, personal practical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge (e.g. Pajares, 1992; Fives & Buehl, 2012). This conceptual overlap hampers theoretical coherence, complicates empirical operationalisation, and limits our capacity to theorise how teachers’ interpretive frameworks develop over time and contribute to professional learning.

Building on this theoretical positioning, the paper draws on established research traditions in reflective practice (Schön, 1983; Larrivee, 2008), pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman, 1986), curriculum theory and constructive alignment (Biggs, 1996), and research on teacher expertise (Berliner, 2004; Anderson & Taner, 2023). Together, these traditions provide the conceptual grounding for examining how teachers’ interpretive frameworks are shaped, challenged, and transformed across contexts and over time.

Against this theoretical background, the paper pursues four interrelated aims:
(1) to clarify TSTs as a distinct theoretical construct by situating them within traditions of subjective theories, teacher cognition, and practical knowledge;
(2) to identify the contributory domains that shape and develop TSTs;
(3) to propose a cyclical model in which TSTs function simultaneously as the starting point of instructional action and as the evolving outcome of teacher learning; and
(4) to link this cyclical reconstruction of TSTs to trajectories of professional expertise development.

By conceptualising TSTs as dynamic, integrative explanatory frameworks, the paper synthesises existing research traditions into a coherent conceptual framework that clarifies how contributory domains may be considered in relation to teacher professional learning and development.

This paper adopts a conceptual approach focused on the clarification and theoretical elaboration of Teachers’ Subjective Theories (TSTs), drawing on established guidance on concept explication and theoretical argumentation (Reese, 2022). Rather than reporting original empirical data, the paper engages in systematic conceptual analysis and theoretical synthesis to articulate a coherent and analytically useful framework for TSTs. The conceptual approach consists of three interrelated phases. First, a conceptual analysis of key literature on TSTs and related constructs is undertaken. This analysis draws on the German-language tradition of subjektive Theorien alongside research on teacher beliefs, teacher cognition, and professional knowledge. The purpose of this phase is not to provide an exhaustive review, but to identify recurring definitional patterns, conceptual ambiguities, and systematic overlaps between TSTs and related constructs such as beliefs, personal practical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge (e.g. Shulman, 1986). Second, the paper undertakes a theoretical synthesis across research traditions relevant to teacher professional learning and development. These include research on reflective practice (Schön, 1983; Larrivee, 2008), pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman, 1986, 1987), curriculum theory and constructive alignment (Biggs, 1996), and teacher expertise (Berliner, 2004; Anderson & Taner, 2023). Through integrative analysis, five contributory domains are identified that consistently recur across these traditions and function as inputs to teachers’ interpretive reasoning. These domains are not proposed as an exhaustive taxonomy, but as a minimal set of influences shaping the development and reconstruction of TSTs. Third, the outcomes of the conceptual analysis and synthesis are translated into a cyclical conceptual model. In this modelling phase, TSTs are conceptualised as both the interpretive starting point of instructional decision-making and the evolving outcome of professional learning. The model specifies the interpretive mechanism through which experience, reflection, knowledge integration, and curricular reasoning become cognitively integrated through repeated cycles of enactment and reconstruction.

This conceptual paper advances a theoretically grounded account of Teachers’ Subjective Theories (TSTs) as a central construct for understanding teacher professional learning and development. While TSTs have been invoked to describe teachers’ personal interpretive frameworks, the construct has remained fragmented and conceptually under-specified within research on teacher cognition, beliefs, and professional knowledge (Pajares, 1992; Borg, 2006; Fives & Buehl, 2012). By defining TSTs as integrated explanatory frameworks through which teachers interpret classroom situations and justify pedagogical decisions, this paper clarifies both the function and the boundaries of the construct. A second contribution lies in the identification of five interrelated contributory domains—practice-based evidence, evidence-informed frameworks, content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and curricular reasoning through constructive alignment—that collectively shape and develop TSTs (Shulman, 1986; Biggs, 1996; Larrivee, 2008). Rather than positioning these domains as independent inputs, the paper conceptualises their interaction as the core mechanism through which TSTs are reconstructed over time. The central theoretical contribution is the proposed cyclical model of TSTs in which TSTs function simultaneously as the starting point of instructional action and as the evolving outcome of teacher professional development. This cyclical perspective aligns with research showing that teacher professional development is iterative, situated, and reconstructive rather than linear (Schön, 1983; Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002; Korthagen, 2017). By linking this cycle to established characteristics of expert teachers—such as organised knowledge structures, rapid situation recognition, and adaptive pedagogical judgement (Berliner, 2004; Anderson & Taner, 2023)—the model provides a theoretically plausible account of how professional expertise gradually emerges. The proposed model is offered as a heuristic and generative framework rather than as a predictive theory. Its value lies in its capacity to integrate fragmented strands of research, clarify conceptual boundaries, and generate empirically testable hypotheses about the development of TST over time.

Anderson, J. & Taner, G. (2023). Building the expert teacher prototype: a metasummary of teacher expertise studies in primary and secondary education. Educational Research Review 38. DOI:10.1016/j.edurev.2022.100485. Biggs, J. (1996). Enhancing teaching through constructive alignment. Higher Education, 32(3), 347–364. DOI:10.1007/BF00138871. Larrivee, B. (2008). Meeting the challenge of preparing reflective practitioners. The New Educator, 4(2), 87-106. DOI:10.1080/15476880802014132. Groeben, N., Wahl, D., Schlee, J. & Scheele, B. (1988). Das Forschungsprogramm Subjektive Theorien. Eine Einführung in die Psychologie des reflexivenSubjekts. Tübingen: Francke. Pajares, M. F. (1992). Teachers’ beliefs and educational research: Cleaning up a messy construct. Review of Educational Research, 62(3), 307–332. DOI:10.3102/00346543062003307. Reese, S. D. (2022). Writing the conceptual article: A practical guide. Digital Journalism, 11(7), 1195-1210. Rosenshine, B. (2012). Principles of instruction: Research-based strategies that all teachers should know. American Educator, 36(1), 12–19. Schön, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York: Basic Books. Shulman, L. S. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4–14.