Secondary Level English Language Teachers’ Experiences of Digital Professional Development in Nepal

Abstract

Digital technologies have been introduced into teacher professional development to offer more flexible teaching opportunities and enhance teachers’ access to professional development experiences. But the reality of digital professional development in the daily professional lives of secondary-level English language teachers in geographically distant areas of Nepal remains obscure. Guided by Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory, this phenomenological study explores lived experiences of four English language teachers at the secondary level from Sudurpaschim Province, Nepal. In-depth interviews and field notes were used to collect data, and Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis was used to analyse them. Three major themes emerged from the findings: affordances and benefits of digital professional development, barriers and contextual constraints, and adaptive strategies for sustaining professional development. The findings add to the body of knowledge of digital teacher professional development with context-specific information from an under-researched rural area of Nepal. The study underscores the importance of creating sustainable digital professional development policies, enhancing technological support, and strengthening institutional resources and support for teachers, while also emphasising the need for professional learning opportunities that are both contextually relevant and flexible.