Changes, challenges and expectations of society call for ongoing professional development of teachers. However, in many schools ongoing professional development cannot be taken for granted. Many governmental, local or institutional policies aim at stimulating teachers’ professional development, but many of these policies have a limited impact. To reach a deeper understanding of this problem casual loop diagrams (Salmon et al, 2022) can be helpful as they visualize how different parts and processes in an organisation are interrelated and either strengthen of weaken one another. Causal loop diagrams originate from the field of system thinking where they are used to understand wicked problems in complex systems (Bore & Wright, 2009; Groff, 2013; Vermaak, 2016). Causal loop diagrams can illustrate how elements like the structure of the profession and of schools, cultures in schools, collegial dynamics, etc are interconnected and can reinforce each other in a positive or negative way. From our observations in schools and from many discussions with teachers and school leaders we developed causal loop diagrams and validated these in literature. Our next step will be to validate the causal loop diagrams in practices in schools through focus group interviews in a variety of schools.
In this session we will present some of the causal loop diagrams we developed, the patterns they illustrate and the underlying theory that support these patterns. Additionally, we will discuss to what extend these patterns are unique for the Dutch context in which we developed them, and the extent in which they can also be recognized in other counties and contexts. Finally we will discuss the way in which working with causal loop diagrams can support teachers, schools and teacher educators that collaborate with schools to identify patterns that hinder a systemic approach for ongoing professional development.