The purpose of this study was to explore directions for the elementary school teachers' professional
development in terms of formal and informal professional learning activities depending on the varying career
stages. Data were collected from in-depth interviews with 16 elementary school teachers who have been
selected to represent four different phases of teacher career stage: initial stage (≤5 years, n=4), growth stage
(6-10 years, n=4), maturity stage (11-20 years, n=4), and ripening stage (≥21 years, n=4). Regardless of career
stage, participants reported that formal dimension of professional development should: (a) enhance diversity
and differentiation in in-service teacher training course, (b) build strong relevance with actual PE context, and
(c) capitalize growth opportunity as springboard to level up professionalism. As for informal professional
learning activities, (a) sharing teaching ideas by using informal teacher interaction, (b) using same-grade
teacher learning community, and (c) cultivating sport literacy through participation in sport activities were
suggested. Depending on the career stage, the findings suggested that professional development program
should focus on varying teacher orientation of elementary PE teaching, seeking knowledge for active growth,
and shifting modes of delivery from divergent, formal learning activities to selective, informal learning
activities.