275 Teachers Professional Development in schools: Reflection on the Move to Create a Culture of Continuous Improvement ( Received May 5, 2017 - Approved November 28, 2017 ) Fekede Tuli 1 Introduction Globally, education has faced multiple pressures from multiple directions to pre- pare learners not only in a changing world but also for a changing world. Given this, efforts are being made by countries to transform their education systems to meet the demand and realities of the twenty-first century. Consequently, governments are re- structuring and reculturing schools and schooling to be a competent system. According to Zmuda, Kuklis, and Kline (2004), a competent system requires several significant shifts: from unconnected thinking to systems thinking, from an environment of isola- tion to one of collegiality, from perceived reality to information-driven reality, and from individual autonomy to collective autonomy and collective accountability. In the process of building a competent system, as Zmuda, Kuklis, and Kline fur- ther explained, the staff members need to emerge as a professional learning commu- nity, embracing collective accountability as the only way to achieve the shared mission for all students, which is ensuring learning for all. In this respect, teachers’ professional learning is considered a vital and effective strategy to bring about change in education (Gemeda & Tynjälä, 2015; Guskey, 2000, Heikkinenet al., 2012). As Feiman-Nemser (2001) further noted, what students learn is directly related to what and how teachers teach; and what and how teachers teach depends on the knowledge, skills, and commit- ments they bring to their teaching and the opportunities they have to continue learning 1 Corresponding author: Department of Teacher Education, Ambo University. E-mail: fekede2010@gmail.com Abstract Professional development of teacher is acknowledged to be centrally important in maintain- ing and enhancing the quality of teaching and learning in schools. Cognizant of this, nation- wide professional development has been designed and enacted since 2003 in Ethiopia. This paper aims to reflect on the practices of teachers’ professional development in schools. In so doing, it relied on the narratives of three informants, current literature and the experiences of the researcher as an insider and teacher educator. Methodologically, the study employed nar- rative research, which is the process of studying and understanding experience through story telling. The findings indicated that the participants found the current teacher professional development problematic and unhelpful to bring the desired change in teachers classroom practice and student learning. The available teacher professional development was narrowly understood, poorly practiced, and orchestrated tightly from the top. Key words: Teacher, professional development, school, narrative research, learning, Ethiopia Journal of Teacher Education and Educators Volume 6, Number 3, 2017, 275-296