A question of trustworthiness? Teachers’ perceptions of knowledge sources in the continuing professional development marketplace in Germany and Sweden

This article aims to investigate teachers’ perception of sources of knowledge in their continuing professional development (CPD). It investigates whether the perceived importance of a source can be related to its trustworthiness. Knowledge sources comprise institutions and colleagues, who produce knowledge for teachers’ development. The issues are examined by analysis of questionnaire studies on teachers’ CPD with a sample size of 711 teachers in Germany and Sweden. The results show that a knowledge source’s trustworthiness is a relevant and significant predictor for its importance in teachers’ CPD. However, the national context in which teachers work also has a considerable influence.

► A CPD marketplace can be described by sources of knowledge as stakeholders in it. ► Trustworthiness of the sources is an important social property in the marketplace. ► It is a relevant predictor for the importance of the sources perceived by teachers. ► There are differences in the relevance for teachers in different national contexts. ► Nation-specific differences supply a relevant frame for teachers’ perceptions.