DPDT’s educational approach focuses on cultivating professional learning communities in schools as well as interweaving university and school-based experiences. This approach organizes professional learning into a 2-3 year cycle where DPDT students learn through field work in collaborative schools or partner schools. During monthly conferences, summer/winter seminars, the Roundtable Cross Session, and other meetings, DPDT students talk and listen to each other and staff members about their practices in order to reflect in and on their practice. At the end of their course of study, each student completes a master thesis that is a longitudinal study in and on self-practice.

DPDT has three different programmatic courses of study. The Management in and on School Reconstruction Program is designed for teachers who are in an administrative position (e.g. a vice president). The School Leader Program is designed for teachers who already belong to public or private schools. The Professional Development of Young Teachers Program is designed for students who have been prepared to enter the classroom as teachers and who will intern at a partner school.
Although each course of study has a different learning goal, all members share their learning processes in monthly conferences, summer/winter seminar, and the Roundtable Cross Session.

DPDT holds a roundtable cross session twice a year (February and June). Teachers, researchers, and others interested in education in Japan participate in small group (5-6 people) discussions. Participants discuss their practices in the form of a roundtable. This biannual event also includes several symposium and poster sessions on a variety of educational topics.