This article will guide you step by step on how to create a teacher survey about professional development. Specific lets you build an effective teacher survey in seconds, so you can focus on collecting meaningful insights.
Steps to create a survey for teachers about professional development
If you want to save time, just generate a survey with Specific instantly and see the difference from traditional methods. Here’s how easy it is with semantic surveys powered by AI:
Tell what survey you want.
Done.
Honestly, you don’t even need to read further—the AI will generate a professional, research-backed survey specifically tailored to teachers and professional development. Plus, it automatically follows up to clarify and gather rich insights, just like a conversation with a real expert.
Why professional development surveys for teachers matter
Let’s be clear: running teacher surveys focused on professional development is one of the most direct ways to improve school performance and educator satisfaction. These surveys matter for a few key reasons:
They reveal what professional growth opportunities teachers truly value—helping schools tailor programs accordingly.
Surveys allow leaders to identify gaps in training or support that aren’t always visible in classroom observations.
They surface challenges with implementation—for example, whether teachers have the time, resources, and motivation to put new methods into practice.
If you’re not running these, you’re missing out on game-changing insights. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, teachers who receive over 8 hours of targeted professional development are significantly more likely to report meaningful improvements in their teaching practices [1]. Missing this opportunity leaves teams at risk for low morale and higher attrition rates.
Moreover, ongoing teacher feedback can help districts avoid the mistakes that contribute to high turnover—over 40% of teachers in regions like the UK have left the profession within the first year, often citing lack of support and professional growth [4]. The importance of teacher recognition surveys, the benefits of gathering teacher feedback, and the actionable data these provide can’t be overstated if you want to build a thriving school culture.
What makes a good teacher professional development survey
A good survey on this topic is clear, unbiased, specific, and engaging from start to finish. With AI survey platforms, we’ve learned a few must-haves:
Questions should be direct yet open enough to invite honest, thoughtful responses.
The tone should be conversational, so teachers feel comfortable sharing what really matters to them.
Use diverse question types to capture both qualitative insights and quantitative data.
It’s tempting to over-complicate, but the best measure of survey quality boils down to quantity (lots of responses) and quality (thoughtful insights). Here’s how the right approach can make all the difference:
Bad Practices | Good Practices |
|---|---|
Leading questions | Neutral, open questions |
Stiff, formal tone | Friendly, conversational tone |
Complex jargon | Clear, simple language |
No follow-up | Follow-up for clarity |
Bottom line: prioritize clarity and trust. The more approachable your questions, the more teachers will engage and share honestly.
Question types and examples for teacher survey about professional development
Thoughtful question design unlocks deeper understanding. Here’s how you can structure your survey for actionable results.
Open-ended questions give teachers the space to express what they truly think, making them invaluable for uncovering nuances that simple rating scales miss. These work best at the start of a survey or whenever you want to understand motivations or barriers. For example:
What professional development topic do you wish was covered more often?
Can you describe a learning experience that had a positive impact on your teaching?
Single-select multiple-choice questions make it easy to quantify responses and spot trends at a glance. They're ideal when you need quick input or to categorize responses. For example:
Which format do you prefer for professional development?
Workshops
Online courses
Peer coaching
No preference
NPS (Net Promoter Score) question measures overall satisfaction and willingness to recommend, functioning as a reliable benchmark over time. Use this when you want a clear, comparable metric—generate your own NPS survey for teachers here.
On a scale of 0–10, how likely are you to recommend our professional development programs to your colleagues?
Followup questions to uncover "the why" are key when you receive vague answers or want to probe deeper. If a teacher selects "workshops" as a preference, you might follow up with, "What makes workshops particularly effective for your learning style?" For example:
If you selected "peer coaching," could you share an experience that made it valuable?
Want more ideas? Check out our guide to the best questions to ask in teacher development surveys—including advanced tips on crafting your own.
What is a conversational survey?
A conversational survey is one that feels like a real dialogue rather than a rigid questionnaire. The respondent interacts with the AI, giving feedback in a chat-like flow, making it personal and responsive—every answer can spark a follow-up in real time.
This is a big leap from manual survey creation. In traditional surveys, you build every question, then hope respondents don’t get bored and give up. An AI survey generator like Specific removes friction by letting you describe your needs in natural language—and the AI does the rest. Here's how they compare:
Manual surveys | AI-generated surveys |
|---|---|
Manual form building | Instant survey generation via chat |
Static, one-size-fits-all questions | Dynamic, personalized conversations |
Limited follow-ups | Smart, real-time probing |
Impersonal experience | Conversational & engaging |
Why use AI for teacher surveys? With AI survey creation, you quickly move from idea to insight without tech headaches or bias creep. The result is a more engaging experience (for both you and the teachers), higher-quality data, and smarter follow-ups—plus robust analysis in a single platform. If you need inspiration or a walkthrough, check out our guide to analyzing teacher survey responses with AI.
Specific delivers best-in-class conversational surveys, letting you build, edit, analyze, and iterate on feedback—the way modern teams want.
The power of follow-up questions
Too many surveys stop at surface-level answers and leave you wondering "why." Automated followup questions change that completely. With Specific’s AI-powered followups, every teacher’s response gets the attention it deserves, unlocking context in real time. Instead of chasing down teachers with follow-up emails, let AI handle the deep dives on your behalf.
Teacher: “I didn’t enjoy the last PD session.”
AI follow-up: “Can you share what made that session challenging or less engaging for you?”
How many followups to ask? Usually, two to three followups are enough. You want to dig, but not overwhelm. The smart thing about Specific is that you can set a maximum number of followups, or configure the survey to skip to the next question once you’ve collected meaningful insight.
This makes it a conversational survey: engaging, adaptive, and capable of real discovery—not just data collection.
AI survey response analysis and summarization are a breeze with Specific, even if you’re dealing with piles of open text. See how easy it is to analyze survey data with AI and turn raw responses into actionable themes that drive true improvement.
The best way to grasp this new approach is to try generating a survey and let Specific’s follow-up logic show you how powerful conversational teacher feedback can be.
See this professional development survey example now
Make your feedback process richer, clearer, and faster—see how a conversational teacher survey about professional development unlocks insights you can actually use. Create your own survey and watch how AI transforms every step, from question design to follow-up and analysis.