The scientific literature is replete with caustic criticism of teacher development programs. Many programs offer little evidence of success, which in turn has prompted educators towards an international appeal calling for fundamental structural change. A momentous catalyst for this change is the ubiquitous emergence of research on the development of teachers' professional identities. This article speaks to these criticisms through the research on teachers’ professional identity development by using an evidenced-based model which structures teacher professional identity development and applying it to the restructuring of existing teacher development programmes. This article presents the