202 NAGY KgiSZTINSNA — RAPos NÓRA — PEsTt CSILLA socio-cultural-economic space in a conscious manner. They do not reflect on fundamental questions, such as what the role of school is in the post-postmodern world. In addition to the individual results, should community values be supported in the individual-result-oriented world of schools? In the post-socialist countries raising the issue of commitment to the related individual and community values, therefore their role in teacher preparation tends to be sharper. The changed understanding of teachers’ roles The interpretations of CPD emphasise the important role of educational and societal changes, because they raise new needs, they appoint new school functions, therefore the professional expectations towards teachers are becoming more and more complex (OECD 2003; McKenzi-Santiago—Sliwka—Hiroyuki 2005; ATEE 2006). These new expectations are beyond the scope of the narrow cross-section of disciplinary knowledge and classrooms; teachers are expected, on the one hand, to efficiently deal with (1) needs that are due to diverse family background, social status, (2) gender, and cultural differences, (3) needs that are due ro the special situation of students with disadvantages, special needs, learning or behavioural problems, on the other hand to prepare their students for challenges they may face in the knowledge society (cf. McKenzie et al. 2005: 97.). Research results proving that teachers significantly influence student performance are behind those expectations that are shaping into teacher policy on the European Union level (Hattie 2003; Barber-Mourshed 2007). A teacher cannot meet these complex expectations on his/her own, but he/she can meet them by pedagogical processes on institutional level which are based on relationships and collaboration. Our knowledge about learning theories Finally, the issue of increased demand for collaboration and autonomous behaviour can be interpreted from the angle of learning theories. According to the socio-constructivist theory community and social constructs, meaning making processes have à significant role in learning (e.g.: Lave- Wenger 1991; Rogoff 1994; Geertz 1983). On the one hand, the meaning making, and knowledge constructing processes of communities become important, while on the other hand the individual knowledge constructing processes are embedded in the learning of communities, thus the individuals’ world and knowledge constructs are interpreted in socially mediated processes (e.g. Vygotsky 2000). From this perspective learning occurs simultaneously on an individual and community level. These have led to two important consequences. Teachers should understand and be able to support the learning processes of communities, in addition to the individual learning paths. Moreover, they should be able to interpret their own