Research article | Open Access
International Journal of Excellent Leadership 2026, Vol. 6(1) 16-31
pp. 16 - 31
Publish Date: June 30, 2026 | Single/Total View: 0/0 | Single/Total Download: 0/0
Abstract
This hermeneutic phenomenological research examines the institutional obstacles to Continuous Professional Development (CPD) among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The study sought to chart the interrelationship of the issues and present a re-conceptualized model of growth. Data were gathered using in-depth interviews with sixteen EFL teachers, two focus group discussion and hermeneutic analysis of eight official CPD portfolios. The triangulated results indicate a vicious cycle of professional stagnation, which is caused by underlying socio-economic precarity, extreme resource loss, in-service training irrelevance, demoralizing classroom conditions, and resultant loss of teacher motivation re-coded as critical consciousness. Importantly, the analysis of the documents revealed the presence of the so-called Performative CPD, where poorly-rated portfolios (average: 2.60/5.00) are artefacts of a system based on compliance, which structurally silences the experience of the teachers. The research concludes that training interventions, which are isolated, do not work. It advocates an ecological approach to professional development, suggesting gradual, system-wide changes, which simultaneously focus on economic welfare, convert bureaucratic tools to dialogic ones, supply the necessary resources, and redesign support as job-inquired inquiry.
Keywords: EFL teacher professional development, Performative CPD, vicious cycle, ecological systems theory, hermeneutic phenomenology
APA 7th edition
SAHLE, Y.F., & Gebrethadik, A. (2026). Navigating a Labyrinth: Systemic Barriers to EFL Teacher Professional Growth in Addis Ababa. International Journal of Excellent Leadership, 6(1), 16-31.
Harvard
SAHLE, Y. and Gebrethadik, A. (2026). Navigating a Labyrinth: Systemic Barriers to EFL Teacher Professional Growth in Addis Ababa. International Journal of Excellent Leadership, 6(1), pp. 16-31.
Chicago 16th edition
SAHLE, YOSEPH F. and Abebe Gebrethadik (2026). "Navigating a Labyrinth: Systemic Barriers to EFL Teacher Professional Growth in Addis Ababa". International Journal of Excellent Leadership 6 (1):16-31.
Abraham, T. (2019). The practice and challenges of school-based teachers continuous professional development: A case of government secondary schools of Hawassa City in Ethiopia. Educational Research and Reviews, 14(1), 33–43. https://doi.org/10.5897/ERR2018.3646
Anderson, N. J. (2008). Metacognition and good language learners. In C. Griffiths (Ed.), Lessons from good language learners (pp. 99–109). Cambridge University Press.
Borg, S. (2003). Teacher cognition in language teaching: A review of research on what language teachers think, know, believe, and do. Language Teaching, 36(2), 81–109. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444803001903
Borg, S. (2015). Teacher cognition and language education: Research and practice. Bloomsbury Academic. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474219871
Bransford, J. D., Darling-Hammond, L., & LePage, P. (2005). Introduction. In L. Darling-Hammond & J. Bransford (Eds.), Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teachers should learn and be able to do (pp. 1–39). Jossey-Bass.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press.
Carter, N., Bryant-Lukosius, D., DiCenso, A., Blythe, J., & Neville, A. J. (2014). The use of triangulation in qualitative research. Oncology Nursing Forum, 41(5), 545–547. https://doi.org/10.1188/14.ONF.545-547
Celce-Murcia, M. (2001). Teaching English as a second or foreign language (M. Celce-Murcia, Ed.; 3rd ed.). Heinle & Heinle.
Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (2001). Beyond certainty: Taking an inquiry stance on practice. In A. Lieberman & L. Miller (Eds.), Teachers caught in the action: Professional development that matters (pp. 45–58). Teachers College Press.
Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (3rd ed.). Sage.
Crystal, D. (2012). English as a global language (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139196970
Darling-Hammond, L., Hyler, M. E., & Gardner, M. (2017). Effective teacher professional development. Learning Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.54300/122.311
Darling-Hammond, L., & Sykes, G. (1999). Teaching as the learning profession: Handbook of policy and practice. Jossey-Bass.
Dasalegn, C. (2009). Continuous teacher professional development: The Ethiopian context. CICE Series, 4(2), 1–18.
Datnow, A. (2011). Creating coherence: District leaders’ use of instructional supervision to align curriculum, instruction and assessment. Journal of Educational Change, 12(2), 231–253. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-010-9152-8
Easaw Alemayehu. (2021). Does continuous professional development (CPD) improve teachers performance? Evidences from public schools in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Research & Reviews: Journal of Educational Studies. https://www.rroij.com/open-access/does-continuous-professional-development-cpd-improve-teachers-performance-evidences-from-public-schools-in-addis-ababa-ethiopia.php?aid=90108
Freeman, D. (1989). Teacher training, development, and decision making: A model of teaching and related strategies for language teacher education. TESOL Quarterly, 23(1), 27–45. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587506
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Herder and Herder.
Guskey, T. R. (1999). Applying total quality management principles to staff development. Journal of Staff Development, 20(2), 40–45.
Guskey, T. R. (2002). Professional development and teacher change. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 8(3), 381–391. https://doi.org/10.1080/135406002100000512
Johnson, K. E. (2009). Second language teacher education: A sociocultural perspective. Routledge.
Johnson, K. E., & Golombek, P. R. (2016). Mindful L2 teacher education: A sociocultural perspective on cultivating teachers’ professional development. Routledge.
Joshi, R. D., & Verspoor, A. (2013). Secondary education in Ethiopia: Supporting growth and transformation. World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/16286
Kennedy, A. (2005). Models of continuing professional development: A framework for analysis. Journal of In-Service Education, 31(2), 235–250. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674580500200277
Kennedy, A. (2014). Understanding continuing professional development: The need for theory to impact on policy and practice. Professional Development in Education, 40(5), 688–697. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2014.955122
Kohl, A. G. (2005). The professional development needs of K–12 ESL and foreign language teachers: A descriptive study. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Kubanyiova, M. (2012). Teacher development in action: Understanding language teachers’ conceptual change. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230348424
Kumaravadivelu, B. (2012). Language teacher education for a global society. Routledge.
Le, M. D., Nguyen, H. T. M., & Burns, A. (2021). English primary teacher agency in implementing teaching methods in response to language policy reform: A Vietnamese case study. Current Issues in Language Planning, 22(1–2), 199–224. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2020.1741209
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Sage.
Malterud, K., Siersma, V. D., & Guassora, A. D. (2016). Sample size in qualitative interview studies: Guided by information power. Qualitative Health Research, 26(13), 1753–1760. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732315617444
Ministry of Education. (2009). Continuous professional development for primary and secondary school teachers, leaders and supervisors in Ethiopia: The framework. Ministry of Education.
Mitchell, R., Paulson, J., & Wedekind, V. (2024). Teacher professional development in Africa: A critical synthesis of research evidence. International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030. https://teachertaskforce.org/knowledge-hub/teacher-professional-development-africa
Nguyen, H. T. M., & Bui, T. (2016). Teachers’ agency and the enactment of educational reform in Vietnam. Current Issues in Language Planning, 17(1), 88–105. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2016.1126385
Opfer, V. D., & Pedder, D. (2011). Conceptualizing teacher professional learning. Review of Educational Research, 81(3), 376–407. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654311413609
Phan, T. T. H. (2017). Learner autonomy in foreign language policies in Vietnamese universities: An exploration of teacher agency from a sociocultural perspective. Current Issues in Language Planning, 18(2), 158–176. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2016.1200586
Priestley, M., Biesta, G., & Robinson, S. (2015). Teacher agency: An ecological approach. Bloomsbury Academic. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474219426
Richards, J. C., & Farrell, T. S. C. (2005). Professional development for language teachers: Strategies for teacher learning. Cambridge University Press.
Schön, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. Basic Books.
Smith, J. A., Flowers, P., & Larkin, M. (2009). Interpretative phenomenological analysis: Theory, method and research. Sage.
UNESCO. (2023). Technology in education: A tool on whose terms? UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000385723
Van Manen, M. (2014). Phenomenology of practice: Meaning-giving methods in phenomenological research and writing. Left Coast Press.
Vescio, V., Ross, D., & Adams, A. (2008). A review of research on the impact of professional learning communities on teaching practice and student learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(1), 80–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2007.01.004
Wedell, M. (2009). Planning for educational change: Putting people and their contexts first. Continuum.
Westbrook, J., Durrani, N., Brown, R., Orr, D., Pryor, J., Boddy, J., & Salvi, F. (2013). Pedagogy, curriculum, teaching practices and teacher education in developing countries. Department for InternationalDevelopment. https://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Portals/0/PDF%20reviews%20and%20summaries/Pedagogy%202013%20Westbrook%20report.pdf