Digitalizing Teachers’ Professional Development: What Did the Pilot Phase of the EmpowerED Project Show Us?

In the education system, teachers’ professional development is often seen as an administrative obligation rather than an opportunity for real growth. The EmpowerED project was created precisely to change this approach — through digitalization, simplification, and placing the teacher at the centre of the process with the help of a digital tool for planning professional development.

From a formal procedure to a meaningful digital experience

EmpowerED aims to modernize the process of self-assessment and planning of teachers’ professional development in North Macedonia. Instead of a manual, paper-based, and time-consuming process, the project introduces a digital, user-oriented platform that helps teachers to:

• identify real development needs,
• think in a structured way about their professional competencies, and
• create personalized professional development plans aligned with their context and practice.

This approach not only reduces the administrative burden, but also places the teacher and their real professional needs at the centre, directly contributing to the improvement of teaching practice.

What does EmpowerED aim to achieve?

The project has a multi-layered goal. On one hand, the digital tool for planning professional development helps teachers gain a clearer picture of their own professional growth. On the other hand, it provides valuable and up-to-date data at school and institutional level, which can be used to:

• strengthen the role of professional development teams,
• better plan school and national training,
• make decisions based on real needs rather than assumptions.

In this way, the digital tool for planning professional development serves as support for both teachers and educational institutions.

Pilot phase in numbers: what did the tool testing show?

The pilot phase of the project focused on real-world testing of the tool in school practice, in order to verify its functionality, clarity, and practical value. Twenty pilot schools from different regions across the country took part in the testing, which made it possible to gather relevant and diverse feedback.

Key results from the pilot phase:

• 20 pilot schools actively used the tool
• 1,290 teachers took part in the self-assessment process
• 1,240 teachers (96.1%) successfully prepared an Individual Professional Development Plan (IPDP)
• More than 80% of teachers rated the tool as clear, intuitive, and useful
• 93% of teachers said the tool increased their motivation to prepare the IPDP carefully and thoroughly

These data clearly show that the digital approach not only makes the process easier, but also increases teachers’ engagement and responsibility for their own professional development.

What does EmpowerED mean for teachers?

For teachers, the tool provides practical support that enables them to:

• clearly identify their strengths and areas for improvement;
• connect specific competencies with real development goals;
• prepare a meaningful and useful IPDP instead of a formal document.

The high percentage of successfully completed plans and the increased motivation show that the digital tool transforms the preparation of the Individual Professional Development Plan from an administrative obligation into a tool for personal and professional growth.

Benefits for schools: from individual plans to strategic planning

The digital tool also has significant value at school level. Through aggregated data and systematic insight into processes, the tool enables schools and professional development teams to:

• continuously monitor the professional development of teaching staff;
• better analyze needs and target training;
• prepare the annual professional development plan more easily and objectively.

In this way, individual IPDPs become the basis for coordinated and strategic development of the school.

Value for the Bureau and the Ministry: data that connects practice with policy

At the national level, the digital tool provides important support to the Bureau for Development of Education and the Ministry of Education and Science through:

• access to aggregated data on teachers’ real needs and priorities;
• digitalized and more objective insight into professional development trends;
• a better basis for creating and improving training programmes;
• stronger support in evaluating and improving the professional development system.

With this, school-level data becomes a tool for making informed decisions and creating policies based on real practice.

Experiences from the tool’s practical testing

Teachers and school leadership from OOU “Gjorgji Sugarev” – Bitola shared their experiences using the digital tool for planning professional development through video testimonials, further confirming the practical value of the tool — both for individual development and for the development of the school as a whole.

Participants featured in the video testimonial:

• Olivera Shikleska Grozdanova, computer science teacher and school administrator of the digital tool (OOU “Gjorgji Sugarev” – Bitola)
• Nevenka Ivanova Toleska, classroom teacher (OOU “Gjorgji Sugarev” – Bitola)
• Natasha Todorovska, classroom teacher and chair of the Professional Development Team (OOU “Gjorgji Sugarev” – Bitola)
• Biljana Temelkova, principal (OOU “Gjorgji Sugarev” – Bitola)

Together toward a better professional development system

The pilot phase results show that the digital tool has the potential to become a key component of the national system for teachers’ professional development. With the teacher at the centre, support for schools, and data useful for institutions, the tool contributes to a more meaningful, efficient, and sustainable approach.

Together we are building a better professional development system.

Partners

This project is made possible thanks to the strategic partnership with the Pestalozzi Children’s Foundation, which provides not only financial support, but also strategic guidance and project management support, and also supports the development of our organisation’s capacities. The activities implemented within the project “EmpowerED – digital self-assessment of teachers and professional development plan” are supported by the Bureau for Development of Education and the Ministry of Education and Science, and are implemented by SmartUp – Social Innovation Lab, Skopje.