Formal and informal professional development during different Covid-19 periods: the role of teachers’ career stages

This mixed-method study is based on interviews with 60 elementary-school teachers who participated in TPD (Teacher professional development) during two periods of the Covid-19 pandemic. Teachers were in early, middle and senior career stages. Teacher statements revealed three categories: (1) Informal and formal TPD–without appropriate formal TPD, teachers, especially those in the middle and senior career stages, turned to colleagues and to social media to cope with online instruction. (2) Self-regulated learning, in which teachers listed their motivating factors and expressed their TPD difficulties during the Covid-19 periods. (3) Perceived learning–the cognitive aspect was found to be higher than the emotional and social aspects, especially during the first Covid-19 period. The practical recommendations are intended for policy makers, to adapt the TPD system to teachers’ particular needs according to their ‘career cycle’, in order to cope with technology-integrated learning-teaching challenges, even in routine teaching.