Why experienced teachers sometimes struggle to change their teaching methods

Teaching experience is often associated with confidence, classroom control and the ability to explain difficult concepts in ways that students can understand. However, years spent in the classroom do not automatically make it easy for a teacher to adopt new teaching methods. A teacher who has successfully taught the same subject for 15 or 20 years may still find it difficult to move away from familiar routines, even when students’ learning needs have changed.

This difficulty is not necessarily a sign of incompetence or a lack of commitment. Experienced teachers have accumulated knowledge, developed classroom habits and discovered approaches that work for them. The challenge arises when methods that once produced good results no longer respond adequately to the needs, expectations and learning habits of a new generation of students.

In an era of changing curricula, digital learning tools, diverse classrooms and growing interest in student-centred education, teachers are increasingly expected to review how they teach. However, changing a teaching method involves more than learning a new technique at a workshop. It may require teachers to question long-held beliefs, accept unfamiliar responsibilities and reconsider practices that have shaped their professional identities.

Research supports the idea that teacher change is influenced by personal beliefs as well as the conditions in which teachers work. A review of 24 empirical studies on changes in classroom management found that teachers’ prior beliefs, the teaching environment and their willingness to change were among the main factors affecting whether new practices were adopted.

Understanding these barriers helps explain why experienced teachers sometimes struggle to change their teaching methods and what schools can do to support them.

When experience becomes a habit

One reason experienced teachers may struggle to change their teaching methods is that repetition gradually turns familiar practices into professional habits. After years of explaining lessons, setting exercises, marking scripts and managing classrooms, teachers develop routines that allow them to work efficiently. They may know how to introduce a topic, identify common mistakes, maintain discipline and complete the syllabus within the available time. These routines can be valuable because they reduce uncertainty and help teachers manage demanding workloads.

However, the same routines can make alternative approaches feel unnecessary or risky. A teacher who has relied on dictation, note-taking and explanations from the front of the classroom for many years may find it difficult to embrace lessons built around group investigations, student presentations, practical tasks or collaborative problem-solving. The established approach feels familiar, while the new one may appear time-consuming and unpredictable.

This does not mean that traditional teaching methods are always ineffective or that every experienced teacher resists innovation. Direct instruction, for example, can be useful when students need clear explanations of unfamiliar concepts. The difficulty occurs when a teacher continues using one approach regardless of the subject, learning objective or needs of the students. Effective teaching requires teachers to recognise when a familiar method is appropriate and when another approach might produce better results.

Experience can also strengthen a teacher’s confidence in personal judgement. A teacher who has taught a subject successfully for many years may reasonably believe that the methods used in previous classes remain suitable. If students pass examinations and the school leadership expresses satisfaction, there may appear to be little reason to reconsider the approach. Yet examination results alone may not reveal whether students can apply what they have learnt, explain their reasoning, retain knowledge over time or use it to solve unfamiliar problems.

The OECD’s Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2018 found that classroom practices focused on managing behaviour and providing clear instruction were widely used across participating education systems. However, practices intended to stimulate deeper thinking, such as asking students to evaluate information and apply knowledge to solve problems, were less widespread, with around half of teachers reporting frequent use of such approaches.

These findings do not establish that experienced teachers are responsible for the difference, but they highlight a wider challenge: teachers may be comfortable with established classroom routines while making less frequent use of approaches that demand greater student participation and cognitive engagement.

In addition, changing a method can mean changing the teacher’s role in the classroom. In a teacher-led lesson, the teacher often determines the pace, explains the content and controls most of the discussion. In a more student-centred lesson, learners may be expected to investigate questions, compare ideas, make decisions and explain their conclusions. The teacher must then guide the process without controlling every step. For someone accustomed to being the main source of information, allowing students more responsibility can initially feel like losing control rather than improving learning.

Professional identity also plays a part. Teachers often take pride in the methods through which they developed their reputations. A teacher known for strict discipline, detailed notes and impressive examination results may feel that adopting a different approach could undermine the qualities that made them successful. Suggestions to change may therefore be interpreted as criticism of their competence, even when the intention is to improve classroom practice.

This is why professional development should not treat experience as a weakness. Experienced teachers have valuable knowledge of their subjects, students and school environments. The goal is to help them build on that knowledge, examine whether their established practices remain effective and make adjustments where necessary. Experience becomes a greater asset when it encourages reflection rather than the assumption that there is nothing left to learn.

The barriers beyond the classroom

Even when experienced teachers recognise the need to change, the conditions in which they work may make it difficult to put new methods into practice. A teacher may attend a workshop on interactive learning, digital instruction or differentiated teaching and return to a classroom where large numbers of students, limited teaching materials and a crowded timetable make implementation challenging. In such circumstances, resistance to change cannot be explained solely by attitude. Sometimes, the school environment makes the proposed change difficult to sustain.

This is particularly important in Nigeria, where schools operate under different financial, infrastructural and staffing conditions. A teacher in a well-equipped private school may have access to reliable internet, projectors, digital learning platforms and smaller classes, while a colleague in an under-resourced public school may have to teach a large class with limited textbooks and little opportunity for individual attention. Both teachers may be expected to adopt innovative teaching approaches, but their ability to do so will depend partly on the resources available to them.

For example, a teacher who wants to introduce technology-supported learning may be unable to depend on digital resources when electricity and internet access are unreliable. Similarly, a teacher who wishes to organise group activities may struggle to supervise meaningful discussions in a severely overcrowded classroom. Although creative teachers can adapt lessons to limited resources, it is unrealistic to assume that enthusiasm alone can overcome every practical obstacle.

UNICEF Nigeria reported in February 2025 that more than 70 per cent of Nigerian children lacked foundational literacy and numeracy skills, identifying weaknesses in teacher capacity and insufficient standardised professional development opportunities among the factors contributing to the learning crisis. Its account also highlighted gaps between pre-service teacher preparation and practical classroom application, alongside problems involving feedback and the relevance of training.

These challenges demonstrate why improving teaching methods requires more than telling teachers to embrace change. Teachers need practical preparation, ongoing support and working conditions that allow new knowledge to influence everyday lessons.

The nature of professional development can create another barrier. Some training programmes introduce several new ideas within a short period but provide little opportunity for teachers to practise them, receive feedback or discuss the difficulties they encounter when applying them. A teacher may leave a seminar enthusiastic about a new instructional strategy but struggle to remember the details when faced with a real classroom the following morning. When the strategy proves difficult, returning to an established method can seem like the most manageable option.

The OECD’s TALIS 2018 findings offer useful insight into this problem. Across participating OECD countries and economies, more than 90 per cent of teachers reported taking part in at least one professional development activity during the preceding year. However, participation alone did not guarantee that every teacher received the kind of support needed to change classroom practice. The survey found that 82 per cent of teachers reported a positive impact from their professional development, while only 44 per cent participated in training involving peer learning and networking. Teachers identified collaborative approaches among the forms of development they found particularly impactful.

The distinction matters because knowing about a teaching method is different from knowing how to use it effectively. A teacher may understand the principles of formative assessment, for example, but still need help developing questions that reveal students’ misunderstandings, interpreting their responses and adjusting the lesson accordingly. Likewise, learning about inclusive teaching does not automatically prepare a teacher to support students with different learning needs in a crowded classroom.

The Education Endowment Foundation‘s guidance on effective professional development emphasises that training should help teachers build knowledge, develop techniques and embed new practices over time. Approaches such as modelling, rehearsal, feedback, action planning and repeated application can make it easier to translate ideas into classroom behaviour.

This suggests that a single workshop, however inspiring, is unlikely to be enough when a teacher needs to change a practice that has become deeply established.

Time is another obstacle. Experienced teachers often carry responsibilities beyond classroom instruction, including marking, lesson preparation, examination duties, administrative tasks, meetings and communication with parents. Some also supervise clubs, mentor younger colleagues or perform additional school duties. Introducing a new method can initially increase the workload because lessons must be redesigned, resources prepared and activities evaluated. If teachers are already stretched, they may struggle to find the time needed to experiment and improve.

In addition, school culture can influence whether teachers feel safe enough to try something unfamiliar. If management expects immediate results, mistakes may be treated as evidence of poor performance rather than a normal part of professional learning. A teacher attempting group-based learning might initially find that students become noisy, activities take longer than planned or learning outcomes are uneven. Without constructive feedback, the teacher may abandon the approach before becoming proficient in it.

Colleagues can also influence decisions about teaching. In a school where established routines are strongly defended, a teacher who experiments with a different method may face criticism or feel isolated. Conversely, when teachers observe one another, share resources and discuss what worked or failed, change becomes a collective effort rather than an individual struggle. A supportive professional culture allows teachers to question their practices without feeling that they are surrendering their authority or admitting that their previous work was worthless.

These barriers show why schools should distinguish between unwillingness and inability. Some teachers may genuinely prefer not to change, but others may lack the time, resources, confidence or support required to do so. Effective school leadership must understand the difference before deciding how best to respond.

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Making change possible

Helping experienced teachers change their teaching methods begins with recognising that professional growth does not end after a teacher has mastered the basics of classroom instruction. Students change, subject content develops, technology evolves and new evidence emerges about how learning takes place. Teachers therefore need opportunities to examine their methods throughout their careers, not only during the early years of service.

However, the process should not begin with the assumption that experienced teachers have been doing everything wrong. A more productive starting point is to identify what already works and explore where improvement is needed. A teacher whose explanations are clear and whose classroom management is effective may not need to abandon direct instruction entirely. Instead, the teacher could introduce structured discussions, practical demonstrations or short problem-solving activities at appropriate points in a lesson.

This gradual approach can make change less intimidating. Rather than attempting to transform every lesson at once, a teacher might begin by changing how students answer questions, introducing brief peer discussions or using exit questions to identify what learners have understood. The teacher can then observe the results, reflect on the experience and decide whether the method should be adjusted or extended. Small, purposeful changes can build confidence and provide evidence of what works in a particular classroom.

Professional development should also be connected to real teaching challenges. If teachers struggle to engage students who appear uninterested, a training programme should help them understand possible reasons for disengagement and practise strategies for responding to it. If the problem is that students memorise information without understanding it, teachers need opportunities to develop questions and activities that require explanation, application and critical thinking. Training is more likely to be useful when teachers can see how it addresses a problem they encounter in their own classrooms.

In Nigeria, school-based professional development can help bridge the gap between training and classroom practice. UNICEF’s work on the School-Based Teacher Professional Development Learning Lab model describes an approach that promotes collaborative learning among teachers and seeks to improve teaching effectiveness and student outcomes.

Such approaches can create opportunities for teachers to learn within the context in which they work, rather than relying exclusively on occasional external workshops.

Mentoring and peer observation can also help experienced teachers review their practices. Observing another teacher’s lesson may reveal alternative ways to explain a difficult concept, involve quieter students or assess understanding during instruction. Equally, inviting a trusted colleague to observe a lesson can provide useful feedback on aspects of teaching that are difficult to recognise when managing a class. These activities should be organised as opportunities for learning, not as exercises designed to embarrass teachers or search for faults.

School leaders have an important responsibility in this process. They need to provide time for professional conversations, make relevant resources available and recognise that new practices may require a period of adjustment. They should also avoid measuring successful change solely by whether teachers have adopted a particular technique. What matters is whether the method improves learning, supports participation and suits the needs of the students.

Teachers, in turn, need to be willing to evaluate their methods honestly. A lesson that worked well five years ago may not work equally well with every class today. Students may have different levels of prior knowledge, different learning needs or different barriers to participation. Reflecting on these differences does not diminish a teacher’s experience; it helps ensure that experience remains relevant. Feedback from students, patterns in assessment results and classroom observations can all provide useful evidence when deciding whether an approach needs to change.

It is equally important to avoid treating every new educational trend as an improvement. Not every digital tool, teaching strategy or fashionable classroom technique is suitable for every subject or age group. Experienced teachers should be encouraged to ask whether a proposed method has a clear learning purpose, whether it is supported by credible evidence and whether it can be implemented effectively in their context. Professional growth involves making informed choices, not adopting every innovation without question.

Ultimately, changing teaching methods is a process of learning, practice and adjustment. Teachers need the confidence to experiment, the humility to learn from feedback and the professional judgement to decide which approaches best support their students. Schools must create conditions in which these qualities can develop rather than expecting teachers to change through instruction alone.

Conclusion

Experienced teachers sometimes struggle to change their teaching methods because years of practice create habits, confidence and professional identities that are not easily altered. Their difficulties may also be intensified by limited resources, demanding workloads, unsuitable training and school cultures that offer little support for experimentation. These factors make it important to look beyond the assumption that resistance to change is simply stubbornness.

At the same time, experience should not become a reason to reject new ideas. The most effective teachers are not necessarily those who abandon traditional methods in favour of every new approach, but those who can assess their practices, recognise when students need something different and adapt accordingly. When professional development is practical, school leadership is supportive and teachers have opportunities to reflect and collaborate, changing teaching methods becomes a manageable part of professional growth.

A teacher’s experience remains valuable, but its value is strengthened by a willingness to keep learning. After all, the purpose of teaching is not merely to repeat what has worked in the past; it is to help students learn as effectively as possible in the circumstances they face today.

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