Personal factors affecting experienced English teachers' decisions whether or not to engage in professional development activities

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate personal factors affecting experienced English teachers’ decision to engage or not to engage in Professional Development (PD) activities. The participants were six experienced English teachers working at different state primary and secondary schools in two big cities in Turkey during the spring term of the 2010-2011 academic year. Fifty-two teachers were asked to fill in a questionnaire which included some demographic questions. According to the data gathered from the questionnaires, six experienced teachers were selected based on their years of experience and social and educational backgrounds. Every effort was made to secure variety in the final sample. The six teachers were interviewed three times at different time intervals. The aim of the interviews was to get detailed information about their perceptions and attitudes towards PD activities, as well as their reasons for engaging or not engaging in such activities. The analysis of the data revealed that the experienced English teachers’ participation in PD is negatively affected by the effect of frequent changes in the educational system, the teaching environment and the lack of feeling of well-being. Yet, in spite of these negative factors, some teachers are willing to take part in PD activities because of being intrinsically motivated and committed to their profession. The findings of the study might benefit the administrations as they provide an opportunity to better understand the reasons for teachers’ unwillingness to participate in PD activities. This will hopefully lead to some actions that will help overcome this negative attitude.