"This qualitative case study examines a novel approach to teacher professional development (PD), the Learning to Learn program in Uganda, which a randomized evaluation places in the top five percent of cost-effective educational interventions. Using Clarke and Hollingsworth’s (2002) Interconnected Model of Teacher Professional Growth, we analyze interviews with teachers to examine how this approach to PD supported teacher change:

• 1) through first-hand experiences with learner-centered pedagogy,
• 2) exposure to ideas about educational theory and the purpose of education; and
• 3) engagement in reflection exercises to develop metacognitive thinking.

When woven together, these components lead to change in teacher beliefs and practice in the form of applied pedagogical knowledge, without imposing any one model or approach. The study contributes to scholarship on teacher PD and agency by elaborating the external domain in teacher growth and demonstrating the value of purpose-driven, metacognitive approaches for fostering learning in under-resourced contexts."

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