Professional capital is still relatively new as a term in the German school systems and is rarely used. Capital refers to resources that people can draw on to act successfully in certain situations. The professional capital of teachers consists of individual skills, abilities and knowledge, cooperation with each other and the ability to make decisions. Following the educational researchers Prof. Dr. Andy Hargreaves and Prof. Dr. Michael Fullan, these three sub-areas are described as human capital, social capital and decision capital.

The present project takes an international perspective and investigates forms of the professional capital of teachers in Germany (Baden-Württemberg), Japan, Finland and Ethiopia. The aim is to show to what extent the three different types of capital are present among teachers, to what extent they are interwoven and which cultural differences shape the school systems. The aim of the project is to develop recommendations for teachers in the different systems in order to change the cooperative professionalism, individual and team-based lesson planning and the self-efficacy of teachers.

Research period is 2017-2022. Project partners are Prof. Dr. Hiroyuki Kuno, University of Nagoya, Japan, Dr. Toshyia Chichibu, National Institute for Educational Policy Research, Tokyo, Japan, Dr. Matti Rautiainen, University of Jyväskylä, Finland, Dr. Emma Kostiainen, University of Jyväskylä, Finland and Prof. Dr. Ephrem Tekle, Kotebe Metropolitan University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.