This article explores the strategies that a typical school Staff Development Team (SDT) can use to promote teacher professional development in schools. The study is part of a larger South African study that probed teacher development and the strategies that can be employed to ensure an improvement in the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning in some South African secondary schools. Informed by the professional learning communities’ theory, the paper views a school and the staff development team as a professional learning community that aims to lead to an improvement of the quality of teaching and learning. The qualitative research approach was used to generate data. Data were generated through interviewing two teachers and a principal from each of three conveniently selected secondary schools (N=9). Data were analysed by discerning emerging themes. The results indicated that the Staff Development Teams (SDTs) and School Management Teams (SMTs) needed to proffer effective ways of developing staff members. The SDTs and SMTs grapple with both the planning and translation of plans into action regarding development of teachers. A variety of strategies for developing teachers were suggested by the teachers. We suggest that local social and political factors should be considered in improving the quality of teaching and learning. The study suggests that SMTs and SDTs be consistently trained (in order) to empower them with the necessary knowledge and skills for developing other teachers.

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