‘Non-traditional programmes for non-traditional students’: teachers’ perceptions of part-time INSET programmes in China

Abstract

Despite widespread scepticism about the impact of INSET (in-service teacher training) initiatives on teacher development, INSET participation has remained one of the major routes for teachers’ professional development. This article reports on an evaluation of a part-time INSET programme for secondary school English teachers delivered by a national normal university based in Central China. Reflective writing was adopted as a major instrument to explore 95 teachers’ views with regard to its positive impacts and drawbacks. The teachers perceived the programme to be beneficial to their professional development in a variety of ways. Meanwhile, they identified a series of problems which may have been caused by the traditional mode of the programme and its limited attention to how to enhance its longer term sustainability. The study suggests the necessity of responding to part-time teacher participants’ practical needs, which entails programme providers adopting a long-term and trainee-centred perspective on teacher development and redesigning the programme to make it more relevant to teachers’ practical needs.

Keywords:

• part-time INSET programmes
• China
• sustainability
• long-term perspective
• learner-centred perspective
• adaptations