This article presents work from an ongoing investigation, where the objective is to understand the impact of recent Portuguese legislation--the Teaching Career Statute and its respective Evaluation of Teacher Performance regulations--on the (re)construction of teacher identity, the teaching career and professional development. From an analysis of the results obtained, it can be noted that the aforesaid legislation had a negative impact on the perceptions of teachers about their professional development, which is evidenced in their pedagogical practice, the educational success of their students, team work and professional investment for a significant percentage of teachers.