Im Psychologischen Forschungskolloquium berichten neben Wissenschaftler*innen der Universität Augsburg auch Forscher*innen aus anderen Forschungseinrichtungen über ihre Arbeit.

Teachers’ professional learning is crucial for continuous competence development and dealing with changing teaching and surrounding parameters. Early buildup and upkeeping of professional learning are therefore essential for successful teaching—but require persistent motivation. While teachers are often aware and reminded of the importance of professional learning, their understanding, valuation, and use of such learning opportunities varies greatly. Accordingly, we sought to (1) better comprehend what teachers understand by professional learning and which learning opportunities they consider to this end, and (2) identify their goals to engage in them. We conducted half-structured interviews with 24 German school teachers. Results showed that most defined professional learning similarly, in terms of improving own professional competencies. To this end, they mentioned various learning opportunities focused on themselves (e.g., trying out different approaches, reflections), learning with/through others (e.g., professional development courses, exchange with colleagues), and media (e.g., internet, books). In particular, the teachers frequently associated professional learning with formal learning, but, upon further inquiry, also knew about and used much informal learning. We subsequently assessed their personal goals for engaging in such learning opportunities. Mastery-based goals represented an important foundation for teachers’ professional learning activities, and different types of goals could be distinguished: teachers pursued learning and task goals with approach and avoidance facets that stemmed from different reasons (wanting to pursue the goal vs. feeling obliged to). This sheds lights on the different motivations underlying differences in teachers’ engagement in professional learning. These findings serve to ultimately better understand and support teachers’ learning, and, through that, enable better student learning