An Investigation of the Factors Preventing Teachers to Attend Professional Development

Continual improvement in knowledge and skills is important in every profession, and teaching is no exception. A Mix-method approach was used. Semi-structured interviews of 12 of the 120 (35%) secondary school English teachers were conducted who amongst a large sample of 343 surveyed teachers reported their participation in professional development activities as nil. Findings revealed that family responsibilities acted as a major preventive force in the way of teachers' accessing formal and organized TPD. Other potentially significant barriers that inhibited teachers from attending TPD involve time issues, lack of support from the school head/administration, huge financial cost, less relevancy to teachers' area of teaching or inability to meet the prerequisites of the TPD activity. It is concluded that teachers' learning capacities can be enhanced, and ultimately, classroom practices could be improved if barriers restricting teachers to participate in the activities of professional growth are removed.