Conference Program

Understanding the impact of Teacher Professional Development (TPD) requires conceptual frameworks able to link individual professional learning with school-wide quality processes. This paper proposes a peer-review-inspired intervention framework for school-based TPD, specifying its core components and an evidence strategy to document impact at both teacher and school levels.

Evidence from research on in-service training and formative assessment highlights that professional development is transformative when teachers engage in reflective practices, structured dialogue, and sustained inquiry supported by an evaluative culture (Cigognini & Parigi, 2024). Similarly, studies on the use of professional portfolios indicate that documenting practice over time strengthens teachers’ capacity to self-assess, construct professional meaning and connect individual learning with organisational priorities (Di Stasio et al., 2021).

At the international level, systematic reviews of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) indicate improvements in pedagogical skills, problem-solving capabilities and teachers’ readiness to adapt practices to learners’ needs, and quantitative evidence supports the value of coherent and sustainable professional development systems (Ambon et al., 2024; Kurteshi & Rrustemi, 2025). Furthermore, research on teacher agency demonstrates that meaningful change depends on teachers’ capacity to interpret, enact and negotiate practices within their organisational contexts (Cong-Lem, 2021). Taken together, these findings emphasise that TPD effectiveness emerges from the interaction between reflective individual learning, collaborative professional cultures and supportive organisational infrastructures.

Within this framework, the EQAVET peer review model provides a robust conceptual basis for strengthening TPD impact in schools. Designed for quality assurance in VET, peer review integrates self-evaluation, collegial external feedback and shared evidence-based inquiry, promoting transparency, dialogic reflection and participatory improvement processes (Evangelista & Fonzo, 2023). Guidance for VET providers further recognises that internal quality management should be systemic, collaborative and grounded in regular evidence use, while peer review manuals operationalise these principles through criteria and guiding questions that foster professional dialogue and organisational learning (CEDEFOP, 2015; ISFOL, 2012).

Transposing this logic to the school sector does not imply replicating VET procedures, but adapting the underlying principles (evidence use, shared criteria, external perspectives and dialogic feedback) to strengthen the professionalism and agency of teachers. The proposed framework outlines a cyclical intervention combining a school-embedded self-evaluation focus, reflective documentation (e.g., portfolios and artefacts), a structured peer feedback encounter, and an action plan with follow-up evidence checks aligned with school improvement priorities. By positioning teachers as co-constructors of quality, peer review is expected to enhance professional agency, enabling teachers to interpret challenges, negotiate solutions and contribute collectively to school improvement, in line with international evidence on agency as a driver of sustainable educational change (Cong-Lem, 2021).

A peer-review-inspired TPD framework thus reframes impact not as immediate behavioural change but as the development of a school’s collective capacity to sustain professional learning. Integrating reflective documentation, collaborative evaluation and structured feedback cycles strengthens coherence between professional development activities, school self-evaluation and improvement plans. In this sense, peer review offers a conceptual and methodological infrastructure for promoting evaluative culture, professional agency and evidence-informed decision-making—key conditions for long-term improvement in teaching and learning.