The seminar aims to provide a detailed presentation on how teachers’ interest to participate in training can be studied within the framework of a national education system, and how alignment with school management expectations can influence teachers’ participation in such training programs. It discusses the general logic of building social research, from setting the scene to the final phase of presenting conclusions. In this context, data from a national evaluation conducted within the Romanian education system in 2021 will be utilized, with more than 5,000 pre-university teachers participating in a survey.

The content of the seminar includes discussions on the following aspects:

•           A brief overview of the relevant theoretical framework of the research (initial and continuous professional development, motivations for participation in professional development, conformity to management expectations, etc.).

•           Introduction to the national context to facilitate understanding (policies and institutional framework relevant to understanding attitudes toward continuous professional training among teachers in Romania).

•           Building an appropriate research design (objectives, hypotheses, operationalization, data collection methods, questionnaire structure, and examples of questions asked to teachers participating in the study).

•           Discussion of the empirical data and statistical analysis – methodological options and presentation of results obtained from the research (descriptive statistics and inferential analyses).

•           Interpretation of the results in connection with relevant literature, conclusions, and potential applications of the research.

The structure of the seminar is interactive and includes material presentation via PowerPoint slides while maintaining an open forum for questions from students to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the research process.