The introduction of government-funded Postgraduate Professional Development in England has raised many questions about the true political purpose and agenda of such accredited continuing professional development (CPD). There are conflicting aspirations for a master's-level teaching profession between educators and the government, albeit agreement that this represents a new gold standard. Without a proper, professionally agreed, theoretical framework to guide long-term teacher development it is difficult to resolve these conflicts. In this paper we offer a view of what such a framework could look like and suggest a useful direction for CPD policy. (Contains 4 tables.)