Professional development for teachers is an important component of the educational system’s transformation. But how do teachers choose to learn? What forms of training are useful to them? What motivates or hinders them in this process?
To answer these questions, we conducted a study alongside the MERITO team, part of Romanian Business Leaders, deeply exploring the behaviors, needs, and perceptions of Romanian teachers regarding their own professional development.
The study offers a realistic x-ray of how “bottom-up” learning is built, at the grassroots level, in schools across the country.
How Teachers in Romania Learn: 5 Key Conclusions
The research explored how teachers access professional training, how they relate to continuous learning, and what real needs they have in this process. Here are the main conclusions:
- Reactive, not Planned Learning: Most teachers (68%) participate in training activities only when relevant opportunities arise, without pursuing a coherent professional path.
- Preferred Methods vs. Effective Methods: Although experiential learning is considered the most effective, standardized trainings such as webinars (60%) and online courses (59%) are the most accessed, even if their practical applicability is limited.
- Collaboration is Underrepresented: Only 7% of teachers participate in collaborative activities (e.g., observing colleagues in class), and materials created by colleagues are used by only 5%.
- Sources of Inspiration are Formal or Individual: Teaching methods used in class primarily come from courses (69%) and educational platforms (67%), supplemented by individually developed resources (61%).
- Main Barriers to Training: Participation in professional development is uneven, being negatively influenced by factors such as personal budget, heavy workload, and the lack of practical activities adapted to the work rhythm.
Research Objectives: How Do Teachers in Romania Develop Professionally?
This research aimed to deeply explore how teachers learn, professionally develop, and cultivate their skills in the current context.
The study sought to understand both what forms of learning are accessed, and what motivates or demotivates teachers in the continuous development process.
Through this endeavor, the aim was to:
- Identifying representative trends and behaviors related to teachers’ professional development
- Documenting existing best practices within the MERITO community and beyond
- Laying the groundwork for relevant training programs, adapted to school realities and the pace at which the educational system is transforming
- Supporting a teacher-centered approach, where development comes from within the educational community, not solely through external directives
3 Long-Term Benefits of Conducting Studies for Market Data Collection
Here are three important benefits of conducting such studies:
- In-depth understanding of real needs. Studies provide a clear and detailed picture of consumer motivations, obstacles, and preferences (in this case, teachers), thus allowing you to adapt your services (in this case, professional training programs) to effectively meet these needs.
- Increased program efficiency and impact. Knowing how teachers learn and their preferences helps develop more effective learning methods and resources that facilitate practical applicability and collaboration, leading to improved educational processes and student outcomes.
- Reduced investment risks. By clearly understanding market behaviors, motivations, and barriers, your company can direct budgets and efforts where they have the greatest impact. In the case of teacher training, this means developing programs that are not only theoretically useful but also practically relevant and accessible.
About the Market Study
For this project, we conducted a quantitative study, using an online opinion survey applied to our own panel as the data collection instrument.
- Target Market: Romania
- Target Audience: Teachers enrolled in MERITO and Didactic.ro communities
- Research Type: Quantitative
- Research Instrument: Online survey (CAWI)
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Măriuca Talpeș, initiator of the idea, co-founder of Bitdefender
About the Client
MERITO is a strategic initiative of the Romanian Business Leaders Foundation, which aims to restore the prestige of the teaching profession by recognizing and supporting valuable educators in Romania.
The MERITO community brings together over 120 awarded teachers and partners, expert practitioners from public schools, directly supported by entrepreneurs and managers from the business environment. Their mission is twofold: to professionalize the teaching career by sharing validated practices and to contribute to the training of 50,000 teachers by 2035.
MERITO is not just a network of award-winning teachers, but a movement for profound transformation, based on collaborative learning, an authentic voice from within the system, and relevant resources accessible through an online professional development platform.
This research represents a natural step towards a better understanding of the current training context and future courses of action.
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