Investing in Professional Capital is an Investment in Student Learning

In their book “Professional Capital: Transforming Teaching in Every School” Hargreaves and Fullan, believe we are at a crossroads in education reform that requires leadership to invest in developing the capabilities or ‘professional capital’ of teachers as individuals, as teams and as a profession.
This book is available to borrow from the Learning Exchange email lex@parra.catholic.edu.au. 

On Friday 21 September 2012, educational expert and author, Professor Andy Hargreaves delivered the 2012 Parramatta Dicoese Catholic Education Ann D Clark Lecture to over 300 educators on education leadership; what works in school improvement; investing in the teaching profession; and building teacher capacity to improve learning outcomes for students.  Read more at 'Hargreaves asks do we want our teachers to be maestros or enthusiasts'.

Greg Whitby,  Executive Director of Schools, Catholic Education, Diocese of Parramatta  also expands on this premise of focusing on building teachers capabilities on his post on Bluyonder 'Building Professional Capital'

For further reading on Fullan and Hargreaves work on Professional Capital see Reviving Teaching with 'Professional Capital' M. Fullan and A. Hargreaves in Education Weekly, 2012
Available from Michael Fullan's website 2012 Articles. 
See Hargreaves work also at his website Andy Hargreaves.com.

Another useful resource that explore this issue:

The Missing Link in School Reform
By Carrie, R Leana, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fall 2011,
In trying to improve American public schools, educators, policymakers, and philanthropists are overselling the role of the highly skilled individual teacher and undervaluing the benefits that come from teacher collaborations that strengthen skills, competence, and a school's overall social capital.