What makes professional development genuinely effective for school leaders? Why do some professional learning experiences translate into lasting changes in practice while others struggle to move beyond good intentions? In this blog, Els Tanghe draws on doctoral research involving 146 school leaders from 69 schools in Flanders, Belgium, to explore five key conditions that support meaningful leadership development and sustainable school improvement. The study offer practical insights for school leaders, professional learning providers, and policymakers alike.
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“Why is it that some school leaders manage to translate their vision into impact, while others struggle?”
This question raised by a school leader captures a tension: having a vision is one thing, realising it in a school context is another. School leaders are expected to create shared ownership while also providing direction, all under increasing pressure to deliver sustainable improvement.
Professional development (PD) is one answer, yet it does not always lead to meaningful change. This raises the question: which characteristics of PD support school leadership and sustainable school improvement?
Based on doctoral research into a two‑year PD programme involving 146 school leaders from 69 primary and secondary schools in Flanders (Belgium), this blog argues that PD only makes a difference when some key conditions are brought together.
Why PD Can Be a Powerful Lever – But Often Isn’t
Professional development requires long-term vision, collaboration and persistence. It can strengthen leadership, but only under the right conditions.
When it works, PD enables school leaders to develop a shared vision, guide teams in pedagogical choices, and foster a culture of professional growth. It also strengthens the school’s capacity to keep developing over time.
The challenge: PD does not always translate into practice. As one leader in the study noted, “You leave inspired, but back at school reality takes over.” The question is not whether PD matters, but when and why it leads to change.
What Makes Professional Development Actually Work
The study followed school leaders during and beyond a PD programme combining training days, professional learning communities and coaching. It suggests that impact depends on a set of key conditions.
PD is most powerful when school leaders work towards explicit goals connected to their school context. Leaders who linked their learning to concrete school priorities were more likely to report sustained impact. PD only “landed” when it became part of an ongoing school improvement trajectory rather than an isolated experience.
PD only becomes meaningful when it connects to the specific realities leaders face: their team, their culture, their policy priorities and their starting point.
A thorough analysis of that starting point was a key learning process in itself. Leaders who took time to ask “what is really happening in our school?” were better able to translate insights into relevant action.
A strong finding was that it is not a single element that makes the difference, but the way different elements reinforce each other. Training sessions, PLCs and coaching were most effective when they were connected.
As one participant put it: “It is not one component, but the coherence between them that makes it work.”
This coherence helped leaders revisit and apply insights across contexts.
Professional learning is not just about input ‒ it is about making sense of input in interaction with others. PLCs provided a space where leaders could share experiences, question assumptions and explore how ideas could work in practice.
Coaching supported deeper reflection and helped translate insights into concrete steps, with one leader noting that “the coach acted as a sounding board, prompting deeper reflection and action.” Joint participation fostered a shared language and ownership, supporting implementation in teams.
Leaders who worked with a concrete, evolving action plan were better able to keep momentum going. These plans linked goals, actions and follow-up, helping anchor learning in school practice. One leader described “action plans as living documents that guided action and made next steps visible.”
At the same time, the study confirmed a reality: PD does not implement itself. Time, space and continued attention are essential.
As one school leader aptly summarised: “School improvement is not a sprint, but a relay.” Without shared ownership across the team, change rarely reaches the classroom.
What This Means for Practice
Recognising these key conditions suggests a shift: from viewing PD as isolated activities to embedding it in the ongoing work of leading a school.
For school leaders, this means asking how to connect their own learning to school priorities, create conditions for transfer and involve their team in collective learning.
For those designing PD, it raises a different challenge: moving beyond offering valuable experiences towards designing coherent, context-sensitive and sustained learning trajectories.
Final Reflections
This study suggests that professional development becomes a driver of lasting school improvement when it is purposeful, context-aligned and sustained over time.
The real question is not whether school leaders should engage in PD, but how it truly changes practice. This calls on school leaders, programme designers and policymakers to move beyond isolated initiatives and deliberately design PD that is long-term, coherent and embedded in school practice.
Want to explore this further?
This blog builds on doctoral research and related publications, including:
Tanghe, E. & Schelfhout, W. (2026). The Coach Matters: Facilitating Characteristics of PLC Coaches Within the Context of a Professional Development Trajectory for School Leaders. Education Sciences, 16(1), 120. https://doi.org/10.3390/EDUCSCI16010120
Tanghe, E. & Schelfhout, W. (2025). Sustainable transfer of training after participation in a professional development programme for school leaders : influential factors related to school leaders and their school context. Management in Education, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1177/08920206251330427
Tanghe, E. & Schelfhout, W. (2025). Goal- and action-orientation as key factors during a professional development trajectory for school leaders to facilitate sustainable transfer of training. International Journal for Leadership in Education, 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603124.2025.2485134
Tanghe, E., Schelfhout, W., & Smits, T. (2025). Learn to lead – together! The effectivity of professional development trajectories for school leaders: opportunities and challenges for sustainable professional and school development. Antwerp University. [doctoral thesis]
