In-Service Training Programs for Iranian EFL Teachers Revisited

In-service training programs are intended to keep practicing teachers up-to-date and/or to address the issues which occur in their practical teaching. Given the importance of this mandate and the time and budget put into these programs, it is necessary to scrutinize these programs to determine whether they fulfill the objectives formulated for them in the first place. To this end, a number of EFL teachers who had attended these programs were interviewed and their interviews were transcribed verbatim. In order to accomplish this, use was made of a semi-structured interview. We began the interview with seven questions. However, during the interviews other relevant questions arose. For the purpose of data analysis, Qualitative Content Analysis was utilized which involves careful examination and regular reviewing of the data to look for some themes and categories emerging from the data. Rigorously applying the procedure of thematic content analysis, the current study provided an in-depth analysis of in-service training programs which have been prescribed for practicing English teachers by the Iranian Ministry of National Education in state high schools. This analysis raised serious concerns about the appropriateness of the programs and revealed that they fall short of accomplishing the objectives intended for them. In the light of the insights gained into these programs, suggestions are offered for the future revision and/or designing the in-service training programs for practicing English teachers.