Schools have been targets for plenty of research, but working life researchers have showed only limited interest in schools as workplaces and as arenas for learning among teachers and other staff. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new study, "Research-supported development work in the schools" by describing its background and methodology. The study is built on the perspective of workplace learning and learning organisations, with a goal to examine teachers as "practitioners" of informal learning and schools as sites for learning among the staff and as learning organisations. The interest will be on whether various models on workplace learning and learning organisations are applicable at schools and whether teachers use informal learning in their work for goal-oriented, continuous competence development. The first part of paper introduces the background for the study, the new Norwegian school reform and a educational dilemma from which it has emerged. The second part will look into the discourse and theorising on workplace learning and learning organisations, with some discussion about their applicability for school development. The third part will present the theoretical frame and methodological approach, work development research, in the new study. Finally, the paper will present some preliminary observations from the development work in the schools participating in the new study. (Contains 1 footnote.)