saw compared to the characteristics of a successful PLC (Stoll et al. 2006 ). In the
findings below the development at the various schools is however categorized and
discussed according to some levels of PLC.
21.2.2 The QUEST Project
QUEST (“Qualifying in-service Education of Science Teachers”) was a large-scale,
long-term CPD project involving 42 schools fromfive municipalities in Denmark.
All in all, the 4-year project, which ran from 2012 to 2015, involved 450 science
teachers. QUEST activities were inspired by and designed according to the con-
sensus criteria mentioned in the introduction. So, for example, activities supported
both teachers’situated learning organized in PLCs at participating schools, as well
as development organized by networks of schools. The overall purpose of QUEST
was to develop a sustainable model for CPD, which would support professional
capital and bottom-up development (Darling-Hammond 2005 ). A program of
alternating network seminars and“collaborative inquiries”between seminars was
designed as a means to stimulate collaboration among science teachers and embed
the CPD activities in the teachers’daily work and experiences (Luft and Hewson
2014 ). This is called the QUEST rhythm (Fig.21.1). Activities between seminars
were organized by the local PLC, but involved also individual teachers trying new
tools and refined approaches in their classrooms, and collecting“data”and artifacts
Fig. 21.1 The QUEST rhythm. In thefirst years, four consecutive course modules were organized
and each of these followed this rhythm. In the last years, the institutionalization phase, course
modules were substituted with network seminars organized by the local municipal consultants, but
these still followed the rhythm
21 A QUEST for Sustainable Continuing Professional Development 317