The importance of continuous professional development (CPD) for teachers is well established in the research literature. Scholars have repeatedly underscored the need to move from traditional forms of professional development that takes place outside the context of teachers’ everyday practice (e.g., Darling-Hammond et al., 2017).

This paper presents some findings from the Icelandic project Sustainable Professional Development for Teachers to Enhance the Quality of Teaching and Learning in Language Art and STEM Subjects through the Use of Video Recordings in Lessons (SAEG). The project is conceptualized as a development and research initiative that ran for two years (2024–2025), followed by a year of follow-up activities in 2026. The project’s central focus was the empowerment of teachers to improve the quality of their instruction by using video recordings of their own teaching. The follow-up phase aimed to further support teachers in applying newly acquired knowledge both in their own classrooms and through collaboration within their professional communities.

The initiative was carried out through close collaboration among researchers from the School of Education at the University of Iceland, teachers in compulsory schools, and staff from two municipal education offices. It focused on teaching and learning in Icelandic, Mathematics, and Science at the middle and lower secondary levels. Teachers utilized classroom video recordings as a basis for self-reflection and professional dialogue. Through guided analysis, they practiced identifying elements associated with high-quality instruction as defined by the PLATO framework (Grossman et al., 2013) and explored strategies for developing and refining specific aspects of their teaching in cooperation with peers, instructional coaches, and researchers. The overall purpose of the study is to propose recommendations to educational authorities concerning structures and approaches to professional development, based on the insights gained from the SAEG project. The project has two main aims: first, to develop new forms of collaborative approaches for teacher professional learning on instructional quality through the use of video-based reflection; and second, to generate and disseminate knowledge about the characteristics of high-quality teaching.  

The SAEG project builds on insights generated through the Nordic Centre of Excellence on Quality in Teaching (QUINT) (e.g. Blikstad Balas & Jenset, 2024; Klette et.al. 2026).  In addition, the project draws upon over a decade of accumulated research on the structures and forms of effective teacher professional development (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017) that are content focused and sustained in duration and include among other active learning, collaboration and coaching. Various models have been identified to bridge the knowing-doing gap in education (e.g. Broekkamp and van Hout-Walters, 2007; Ventista & Brown, 2023). Anna Kristín Sigurðardóttir et al (2018) and Burgard, & Boucher, (2025) are among those who suggest some form of knowledge partnership where researchers, practitioners and policy makers meets as equal partners, which was followed in SAEG project.

This paper addresses the following research questions:

• What opportunities and challenges do teachers and researchers identify when participating in an integrated research and professional development project such as SAEG.

The paper concludes with reflections on potential implications for school leaders and educational policymakers in planning and prioritizing teacher professional development.

The SAEG project is defined as an integrated research and development project aimed at improving teaching quality and was carried out with funding from the Educational Research Fund of the Ministry of Education and Children 2024–2026. It is an intervention study in which data were collected before and after the intervention (Cramner, 2018). Participants were 16 teachers at the middle and lower secondary levels, staff from two school administration offices in Reykjavík and Múlaþing, and five researchers from the School of Education at the University of Iceland. All teachers in these two municipalities were invited to participate. In total 25 teachers accepted, but nine of them withdrew in the first weeks of the project for various reasons. Thus, sixteen teachers participated for the entire period. The intervention lasted one school year, from August 2024 to August 2025. Teachers received instruction on teaching quality and on the PLATO analytical framework (Grossman et al., 2013). They chose focus areas (from PLATO) to work on under the supervision of mentors from the School of Education. They experimented in their own teaching with the help of video recordings of their lessons and presented their experiences to others on the team and to colleagues. Workshops were held regularly where, among other things, features of good teaching were discussed and videos were watched together. The school leaders were carefully informed at all stages to make sure that they supported their teachers. The following data were collected: recordings of lessons, one lesson before and one after the intervention, a total of 38 lessons. These were analysed with reference to PLATO and used in conversations with the teachers. Interviews were conducted with all teachers before and after the intervention, a total of 38 interviews, and they also submitted written reflections on their own learning and progress on a regular basis. Interviews and reflections were thematically analysed. Students completed questionnaires at the end of the intervention, and the researchers conducted a SWOT analysis of the challenges and opportunities of participating in a project of this kind.

All participants acknowledged various opportunities in professional development of this kind. School leaders and school district staff saw opportunities to improve the quality of education in the school/municipality; the researchers saw opportunities to strengthen their own understanding of everyday work in schools and thereby improve teacher education as they thought teacher students. The teachers wanted to challenge themselves, be pushed a little, and saw value in belonging to a peer group that was developing as leaders. Progress was visible for most teachers in the areas they worked on. There were also challenges. It was difficult to recruit teachers and secure their commitment for the entire period. Teachers were unsure about expectations, including workload, and experienced anxiety about recording their own teaching and showing it to others. For the researchers, a challenge was sticking to a predesigned research plan that frequently clashed with events and incidents in the schools. Expectations were also different: researchers wanted good data while teachers wanted more guidance. It was demanding and time-consuming for the researchers to serve both as mentors and as investigators. Overall, this form of professional development proved its value, although it is hard to demonstrate after such a short time. Teachers became much more aware of their own teaching and noticed things in their practice they could improve. Follow up will reveal whether the project’s effects can be scaled across the schools and whether the positive changes endure, that is whether the project’s sustainability can be strengthened. The results are expected to contribute to a deeper understanding of the effects of job-embedded professional learning on the quality of teaching and, in turn, to positively influence teacher commitment and student learning experiences. Teachers developed specialized expertise that proved valuable both for their own professional growth and for the broader professional community.

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