Professional development or professional control? Rethinking Arabic language teacher learning in the Indonesian context

Professional development (PD) can support teacher learning while also operating within institutional arrangements that regulate professional practice. This study examined how 15 Arabic language teachers in Indonesian Madrasah Aliyah experienced and negotiated these dimensions of formal PD. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews lasting 30–45 min and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Three interconnected themes were identified: formal PD as regulated professional learning, strategic compliance as negotiated agency, and professional learning beyond formal programmes. Teachers described formal PD as providing potentially useful pedagogical resources while also involving participation requirements, documentation, and standardised expectations. They negotiated these conditions through selective engagement and contextual adaptation, while identifying classroom reflection, collegial interaction, and Arabic-teacher networks as meaningful sources of learning. The study conceptualises PD as a negotiated professional space in which professional learning, professional control, and situated teacher agency coexist, extending professional development scholarship through evidence from a non-Western, religiously oriented educational context.