The author of the article expresses the opinion that professional activity of the teacher, his professional and personal development is an important multi-dimensional and multi-faceted problem that requires an in-depth analysis. One of the effective components for solving it is to study the teacher's educational needs, since the gap between the professional education received by a teacher in higher educational institutions and the upgrade of qualification that takes place once every five years, the lack of motivation for professional development does not contribute to overcoming many negative phenomena (pedagogical crises, pedagogical burnout, professional stagnation). The article describes the categories of "development" (personal and professional) and "educational needs" (of modern teacher); the peculiarities of forming the teacher’s educational needs are investigated. Satisfaction of the educational needs of a modern teacher should provide for the actual socio-economic situation, in which he is located, fleeting changes, what is happening in society; a feature of functions performed by him, and relations with various subjects of the educational process and the ability to navigate in the modern market of educational services. Objectively subjective conditioning of the teacher's attitude to personal and professional development is the basis for creating of a complex of events, aimed at the formation of his educational needs. The results of the research on the educational needs of different-aged teachers during their qualification upgrade are presented. The purpose of the research is to find out the level of the demand for educational needs; to assess the quality of educational services which are provided; to identify the driving motives, as well as to determine the prospects for improving the effectiveness of educational activities with this.