An evaluation of the effectiveness of the professional development program for senior and acting senior teachers provided by the Directorate of Training, Ministry of Education, Bahrain

In Bahrain, two previous studies have been undertaken to investigate the effectiveness of specific programs offered by the Training Directorate, Ministry of Education, but neither of them tracked the impact of such training programs on the trainees' practices or performances in their workplaces.;This study evaluates the effectiveness of the 'Professional Development Program' provided by the Directorate of Training in the Ministry of Education in Bahrain on the skills of the Arabic, English, Maths and Science senior teachers and acting senior teachers in the government secondary schools of Bahrain.;The investigation was done from the different points of view of the key training partners: trainers, trainees, school administrators and teachers in their schools. It analyses the effect of the training program on the personal and functional skills of the trainees and its impact on their skills and practices. This study clarifies the most and least effective components of the training program, their characteristics and their relation to the changes. It reveals which factors encourage and discourage senior teachers to transfer learning to their workplaces.;Furthermore, this study focuses on the importance of the teachers' professional development, its significance for educational development and reform, and also its effect on the students' performance.;As a contribution to the field, the researcher has designed a new program evaluation model that may be used as guidance in the Directorate of Training to facilitate best practice in the field of professional development, to achieve the expected results and also ensure the transfer of learning to the workplace, with a good return on investment.