Potential Barriers to Non-Traditional Forms of Secondary School Professional Development: The Teachers' Perspectives
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Authors
Bennett, Scott
Issue Date
2026
Type
Dissertation
Language
en
Keywords
teacher-centered , teachers , professional development , secondary education , secondary schools
Alternative Title
Abstract
Teacher professional development (TPD) has long been a component of school improvement. The design and delivery of TPD have been entrenched in a traditional, didactic format and rarely involve active, ongoing, job-embedded practices with individually relevant content; characteristics which better align with current adult learning theories. Teacher-centered professional development (TCPD), which applies adult learning theory, has shown promise in creating effective professional learning. Despite evidence of TCPD's effectiveness across all levels of education, its use within public education in most Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations has not become mainstream (OECD, 2021). This study aimed to deepen educators' understanding of the mechanisms that hindered a move towards TCPD within the public secondary school environment. Interviews were conducted with secondary school teachers in the Vancouver, B.C., metropolitan area, with the goal of collecting data on teachers' perceptions of barriers to their and others' participation in professional learning, aligned with the principles of adult learning theory and TCPD. With such information, educators will be in a better position to answer the question of why there has been a hesitancy to adopt TCPD. Open coding was used to analyze transcripts of teachers' interviews, followed by more specific axial coding, to identify potential themes in teachers' experiences of participating in, or attempting to participate in, various forms of TCPD. Findings from the data analysis showed that teachers' trust and vulnerability, the busyness of the job and the lack of time, and leadership support and encouragement were amongst the most prevalent factors preventing the adoption of TCPD models. The implications of this study are many. For those who design and implement TPD at the secondary school level, findings suggested that they play a critical role in the trust and support needed for TCPD, and that the transition to TCPD cannot be rushed without first establishing the organization and trust necessary for success. For teachers potentially
participating in TCPD, findings indicated that their own fears, uncertainties, and historical apathy towards professional development play significant roles in any attempt to re-imagine and re-structure teacher professional development.