Honing a Professional Identity: The Outcome of a Teacher Education Programme

Abstract

This study examined the outcome of an in-service postgraduate professional development programme for secondary school teachers in a developing country. It investigated the influence of the programme after completion, with a focus on the professional identity of three modern language teachers three years after they had completed the programme. This qualitative phenomenological case study used interviews, questionnaires, and document analysis to collect data from the participants. The data were analysed using codes, categories, and themes. The findings revealed that the three participants were influenced by the programme in a positive and enduring way, in that they all showed growth in terms of their professional identity. School context was found to have a determining role in the extent and longevity of the influence that the programme had on the participants.